2020 UTME: JAMB remits N7bn to Federal Government

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has made an interim remittance of N3.5 billion to the Federal Government consolidated account from the excess funds generated from its operations during the conduct of 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

In a statement issued by JAMB’s Head of Media and Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, on Sunday, the board said it had earlier made the payment of over N3.5 billion to candidates by way of reduction of N1, 500 from the cost (N5, 000) of each ePIN sold to each candidate as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

JAMB said this brought the total remittances this year (2020) to over N7 billion.

It pledged to make further remittance to the government as soon as its operations are concluded and proper audit of its books done.

The statement said the remittance was done in line with the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede’s “avowed commitment” to remit wholly, excess funds generated from its operations to the Federal Government.

It added that the board returned the excess to the government coffers despite reduction in the cost of ePIN sold to candidates from N5,000 to N3, 500 as directed by the President last year.

“From the outset, it had been the intention of the present leadership of the board to return to federal coffers, whatever is left unutilised from its operational imperatives,” the statement read in part.

“The immediate benefit of the move manifested in the reduction by President Buhari of the UTME registration fee payable by candidates from N5,000 to N3,500, which entails the transfer of over N3billion to candidates and parents/guardians annually via the reduction in the cost of application documents.

“Before the reduction in the cost of application ePINs, the board had remitted over N7billion in 2017 and replicated same in subsequent years until the gracious action by the Buhari administration’s unprecedented decision to give back to candidates a percentage of the cost of registration.

“To sustain the gesture, the board will continue to come up with innovations on ways to ensure that candidates are provided with world-class services at modest cost, as obtained anywhere in the world.”

Over 1.9 million candidates wrote this year’s examination, making it the highest in the history of the board so far.

In 2019, the board returned N5 billion to the government coffers, but was later asked by the government to keep N2 billion to enhance its operations.

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