… as WAEC stands with Reps Committee, denies allegations from JAMB against lawmaker
Documents show that the house of representatives committee on basic examination bodies refunded funds paid to it by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for an oversight assignment, countering allegations that the panel extorted examination bodies.
The records contradict claims that the committee pressured agencies to surrender portions of their internally generated revenue (IGR) under the guise of legislative oversight.
Background
In March, the house of representatives resolved to investigate a technical error that compromised the results of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Adewale Adebayo, a lawmaker from Osun state.
As part of the probe, the committee requested JAMB to submit documents covering its 2023, 2024 and 2025 budgets and IGR, details of revenue generation and budget implementation, evidence of remittances to the federation account, and corresponding bank statements.
JAMB failed to provide the documents within the stipulated timeframe.
The committee subsequently wrote to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the accountant-general of the federation (AGF), requesting the board’s financial records and remittance details.
For the oversight exercise, JAMB facilitated logistics for the committee to inspect its underage examination programme which was scheduled to hold in three centres — Abuja, Lagos and Owerri.
According to documents, JAMB transferred N62.7 million to the committee on October 8 to cover the exercise.
However, due to the committee’s legislative schedule, members were only able to visit one centre in Abuja.
As a result, N43 million was refunded to JAMB on November 11 via the account number TSA 0020125461019, after the board reluctantly provided its bank account for the transfer.
National media outlets, including AIT and Arise Television, covered the committee’s oversight visit.
On October 29, a JAMB delegation led by Mufutau Bello, a director in the registrar’s office, appeared before the committee to represent Registrar Ishaq Oloyede. The officials, however, walked out after lawmakers rejected their request for a closed-door session.
Oloyede later appeared before the committee on November 16, apologised for the incident and submitted the requested documents.
Following his appearance, JAMB returned the funds to the committee on November 17, while the investigation was still ongoing.
The committee refunded the money again on November 19, stating that it had no basis to retain funds for activities it did not carry out.
Extortion allegations
After the refunds, reports swirled, alleging that the committee extorted examination bodies, including the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examinations Council (NECO), National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), and the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS).
Some civil society groups and unnamed sources claimed that the committee, chaired by Oboku Abonsizibe Oforji, demanded millions of naira under the pretext of oversight.
The reports further alleged that the chairman engaged consultants to audit the accounts of examination bodies, fell out with one for allegedly shielding the JAMB registrar — said to be his kinsman — and subsequently hired another to implicate executives who refused to comply.
‘SMEAR CAMPAIGN’
A committee member said the matter said the refund transactions showed that the panel neither requested nor retained funds improperly.
“If the intention were to extort or divert money, there would have been no refunds — certainly not twice. These were traceable bank transfers, not cash payments,” the lawmaker said.
The transactions also contradict claims that the N62.7 million released for oversight activities was extortion.
Meanwhile, no consultant has petitioned the National Assembly or any anti-corruption agency over allegations of coercion or improper engagement.
Amos Dangut, head of WAEC’s Nigeria office, denied claims that the committee demanded money from the examination body.
Attempts to reach other heads of the various examination bodies were unsuccessful.
When contacted, JAMB spokesperson Fabian Benjamin declined to comment on the financial transactions.
“I am the information officer; I don’t handle anything that has to do with money,” he said.