‘Funding, a threat to conduct of UTME’

Prof. Is-haq Oloyede reveals fears that low funding would affect the conduct of UTME.

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has revealed that inadequate funding is posing a threat to the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.

Oloyede made the disclosure while receiving a delegation of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institution and Tertiary Education Trust Fund on Tuesday, November 8, in his office in Bwari, Abuja, Daily Post reports.

“The major challenge facing the board has to do with funding. We take N5,000 from each candidate.

“We do not even have the money to conduct the examination.

“Rather, we call on third party to do some of the things and they only give some commission to JAMB because we do not have enough money to invest.

“Conduct of examination across the country requires intensive human participation; you will recruit invigilators and monitors and then it costs so much money to set exam questions.

“The capital allocation is N1 billion; the release so far is N45.57million; the overhead cost is N50 million allocated, but N24.9 million is what we have received so far.

“The N24.9 million given is not sufficient to pay electricity bills because all the 36 states and zonal offices depend on what comes from headquarters for their funding,” he said.

The registrar also appealed to the National Assembly to review its decision on the bill seeking to validate the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination for three years.

Oloyede said that extending the exams validity would do more harm than good and that many things had to be considered before a decision can be reached.