The National Assembly, comprising the Senate and House of Representatives, has expressed concerns over poor and low remittances by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government in 2024.
According to the lawmakers, many MDAs, despite getting huge grants from the government, failed to remit sufficient amounts to the government at the end of the fiscal year, saying such performance does not justify the huge government’s spendings on these establishments.
The legislators are suggesting that the Federal Government should desist from releasing grants to these poor performing agencies, noting that they should use the money they generate in running their activities.
Prominent among these defaulting MDAs is the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Defending its 2025 budget proposal, JAMB disclosed that it remitted N4 billion to the federation account, despite getting N6 billion from the Federal Government last year.
The lawmakers described the situation as unjustifiable, asking the federal government to stop giving JAMB grants and allow it to spend what it generates.
The position of the joint committee of NASS was a sequel to the presentation by JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, who appeared before the committee, led by Senator Sani Musa, APC, Niger East, to defend the agency’s 2025 budget proposal at an interactive session on ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs’ revenue projections for 2025.
Giving a breakdown of the performance of JAMB’s 2024 budget, Oloyede told the lawmakers that the board remitted N4 billion to the consolidated revenue fund while it got a grant of N6 billion from the federal government.
Enraged by his revelation, the committee, including Abiodun Faleke and Senator Adams Oshiomhole, APC, Edo, questioned why a self-funding agency should be getting allocations from the federal government.
“You remitted N4billion and got N6billion from the federal government. Why not keep the N4 billion and we stop the government from funding JAMB,” the Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Faleke queried.
On his part, Oshiomhole, while addressing Oloyede, said, “You spent N1.1 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.
“You also spent N850 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 slammed JAMB for spending N600million on local travels, even as he called on Oloyede to justify the N6.5 billion on local trainings; N1billion on staff housing scheme, maintenance of vehicle and refurbishment, N75 million, among others.
Earlier, the chairman of the committee, Senator Musa expressed concerns over low remittances of revenues generated in 2024 by MDAs, and some government-owned enterprises, GOEs, to the federation account.
The MDAs at the meeting included the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB.
Others were the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC, and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, FRC.
Senator Musa noted that the Senate was deeply worried about the widening disparity between the substantial revenues accruable to the MDAs and their consistently low remittances to the federation account.
“This trend undermines the government’s capacity to fund critical infrastructure and social services, calling to question issues of inefficiency, mismanagement and possible revenue leakages,” he stated.
