‘Is It Mosquitoes That Took All This Money?’ – Oshiomhole Questions JAMB’s Use Of ₦850 Million For Fumigation, Security

Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North Senatorial District, has raised concerns over the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) 2024 expenditure during the agency’s 2025 budget defense session before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance.

Oshiomhole challenged JAMB registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, to justify the ₦850 million spent on security, cleaning, and fumigation, asking, “You also spent ₦850 million on security, cleaning and fumigation in 2024. What did you fumigate? Is it mosquitoes that took all this money?”

The former Edo State Governor also expressed disapproval over JAMB’s spending of ₦1.1 billion on meals and refreshments, questioning whether the government was providing free meals to the agency.

“You spent ₦1.1 billion on meals and refreshments. Are you being freely fed by the government? What this means is that you are spending the money you generate from poor students, many of them orphans,” he said.

Further scrutiny came with the revelation that JAMB spent ₦600 million on local travel, prompting additional criticism from lawmakers.

Prof. Oloyede revealed that JAMB had remitted ₦4 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund while receiving ₦6 billion in grants from the Federal Government in 2024.

Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Abiodun Faleke, questioned why a self-sustaining agency like JAMB relied on government funding, suggesting that if the agency was generating enough revenue, it could forgo federal allocations.

The lawmakers hinted that they might remove JAMB’s government allocation in future budgets unless more convincing justifications were provided.