The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has remitted N3.51 billion to the federal government as operating surplus for 2021. The Board registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, continues his turnaround which makes him one of the finest public servants in the nation; well done Prof. He turned a money-losing Board into a surplus-making one.
But as Nigeria celebrates this continuous record from JAMB, I want to be on record as one person who will not commend JAMB. While it is uncommon, in Nigeria, to see a leadership that is prudent to have managed resources and then honestly returned excesses to the Federal Government, I think using data from the last few years, by now, this would not be necessary in JAMB.
Yes, JAMB should reduce fees or waive fees on many things and help Nigerian families instead of keeping its current cost model. It has been declaring surpluses for years, largely due to having top-rate management, but it is time we do the right thing: there is no need to be sending money to that ocean called the Federal Government purse which swallows whatever goes in , with largely nothing to show.
Alternatively, the university system through National Universities Commission and allied regulators should enter an MOU so that JAMB will use the excess funds to offer reduced tuition in all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, both public and private, in Nigeria.
Nigeria MUST not make JAMB a revenue generating institution like NNPC and Corporate Affairs Commission. That message must be clear! For everything wrong in Nigeria, affordable education remains the only gift – and we can open the entrance phase for more families.
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Comment #1: It’s sad that prospective undergraduates have to rewrite jamb, after passing but couldn’t secure admission into the university. Jamb can create a policy that guides students whose results scale over let’s say 200,have their results valid for 2 or 3 years, should they not be admitted into the higher institution In that current year they wrote the exam.
Not gaining admission in the current year is enough to demoralise any prospective student from rewriting the said exam, also considering the unavailability of space to accommodate new entrants in these universities nationwide.
Comment #2: Prof. JAMB had reduced the application form fee when the same man came on board in his first tenure. Again, the surge in revenue I guess has to do with the continuous yearly increases in enrollees’ population.
Now to me, N3,500 as an application fee is moderate for an annual examination. This fee is not even up to what an average family or even the JAMB candidate spends on data or airtime weekly in Nigeria.
Sometime, I do ask myself what do we really wants in this country, get every government service free?
The same parents we are advocating for, and tag the poor, don’t blink an eyelid when paying for foreign examinations such as IELTS exam , SAT, TOEFL, etc. but we suddenly remember they are poor when it concern’s Nigeria. Previous Registrars charged higher fees in the region of N5,000 with less millions of Naira returned to the Treasury we didn’t complain and we didn’t remember the parents were poor. To me the N3,500 application fee is in order. Now, concerning how the generated fund should be utilized, except we want the exam body, an agency under the ministry of Education to contravene the constitution which will ultra-vire JAMB. The constitution states that all revenues generated must go into the national treasury, and be shared by Federal, State and Local governments in Nigeria.So, how do we want JAMB to go about this when the provisions of the constitution and revenue mobilization law of the federation is cleared and details?
Respond to #2: This comparison is actually faulty. While the current JAMB Management is superb, in the old JAMB, your fees included checking your result. My understanding is that your current fee does not cover scratch card, etc. Also, it would be unfair to compare any system in 2021 with say 2012 since tech has reduced cost of operations. With CBT exam, JAMB does not print papers or hire security to send them to CBN vaults across the nation. There is no transportation, etc to move scripts. JAMB is a software company with improving marginal cost. But its gains should not be sent to government. It can use excess to reduce tuition for all year 1 students in universities, etc.
Comment #2a: I do agree that JAMB is a software company, however, its marginal cost is not perfectly inelastic. I also do agree that other incidental costs such as the scratch card purchases should and as matter of fact be eliminated. Candidate Registration number and Email should suffice in checking the result.
In respect to it’s gain not being sent to the government, Mr President might need to issue executive order to that effect, or a constitutional amendment.
My Response to 2a: There is one thing Mr President can do that will help: JAMB results can last for 3 years. That means, if you take it in 2021 and unable to gain admission, you can use it up to 2023. JAMB costs many rural students money to come to cities to take them. That money is not captured in the form. We can reduce that burden as done in SAT, TOEFL, etc across the globe.
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