The National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance has quizzed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) over what it described as excessive spending, threatening to cut the federal government’s grant in the 2025 budget proposal.

This was after JAMB registrar Ishaq Oloyede presented the board’s 2025 budget proposal to the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Monday.

During his presentation, Mr Oloyede said JAMB remitted N4 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund in 2024, having received a grant of N6 billion from the federal government last year.

The development resulted in criticism from committee members who questioned Mr Oloyede over the agency’s excessive spending despite financial support from the government.

Chairman of the committee, Abiodun Faleke, insisted JAMB went overboard to have remitted lower than it received from the government.

“You remitted N4 billion and got N6 billion from the federal government. Why not keep the N4 billion, and we stop the government from funding JAMB,” Mr Faleke queried.

Adams Oshiomole also quizzed Mr Oloyede over outrageous spending on meals, refreshments and travels.

“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”, Mr Oshiomole asked.

The lawmaker added, “You also spent N850 million on security, cleaning and fumigation in 2024. What did you fumigate? Is it mosquitoes that took all this money?”