JAMB vows to prosecute officer over N36m ‘snake-swallow’ scandal
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| Dr Fabian Benjamin, the Head of Media and Information of JAMB |
Spokesperson of
the Board, Dr Fabian Benjamin, while reacting to the story carried in a
section of the media, said JAMB would not spare
anyone found undermining the integrity of the Board, irrespective of who is involved.
He said: “On the
snake issue, the Board maintain that there is no hiding place for any
form of crime to thrive in the running of the Board’s activities.
“But, be that as
it may, management is working assiduously to arrest and hand over to
the appropriate quarters, this “snake” that swallowed our N36 million
and a host of others still in our system,” he said.
He recalled that
the Professor Ishaq Oloyede led management had on assumption of duty
embarked on a tour of the Board’s state offices to ascertain their
actual financial standing and their general operations.
Benjamin, said
some of the reforms introduced by Oloyede when he assumed office in 2016
included the recommendation of an end to the use of scratch cards,
replacing it with more efficient and effective modes of pin vending.
The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME)
candidates before now, purchased scratch cards from our offices
nationwide and designated centres to gain access to the Board’s website
for either registration or other essential services.
The JAMB
spokesperson explained that it was in the process of the routine audit
and other checks of state offices account and activities that an
official in charge of the Benue state office of the Board was found
wanting in an effort to give an accurate account of the proceeds
realised from the sales of the cards.
He maintained that the Board is not going to take lightly its fight against corruption no matter who is involved.
“We are going to
unravel, arrest and prosecute this alleged mysterious snake, just as we
are going to bring to book any of our officer or stakeholder who is
caught in any activities, not in line with the Board’s policies.
“A number of
persons have indeed been discovered to have misappropriated funds
belonging to the Board and the one at hand currently is one of such
numerous cases of misappropriation in the state offices,” he said.
Benjamin,
revealed that another of such cases uncovered by the Oloyede
management-led team was that of a state officer who also failed to give
account of monies realised from the sales of the card but rather claimed
that he was on his way to return some unsold scratch cards when he was
involved in a car crash and the car was burnt with the cards.
According to
him, the officer had claimed that all the cards then got burnt in the
process, just as he failed to account for those sold before the ban on
the use of scratch cards.
The statement
reads in part: “We are out to carry careful scrutiny of government
funds, as well as block all leakages and loopholes.
“The Board would not leave any stone unturned in its fight to stamp out corruption in its activities.
“We will not
condone or hide any act of misconduct, no matter how uncomfortable or
unpleasant it may be to the Board or any stakeholder.
“We have
deployed machineries that fight corruption, infractions, and admission
malpractice, financial misappropriation in a total and comprehensive
manner.
“There will be no sacred cow, be it a staff of the Board or any stakeholder partnering with the Board.
“The fight
against corruption by the Board has been given a boost by the recent
visit by the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission
(EFCC) Mr Ibrahim Magu.
“Given the kind
of commendation by Magu and the confidence reposed in the management of
the Oloyede led Board, we would have no option than to continue to do
more.
“In JAMB, we
have nothing to hide. We run an open door system where the public must
have an unfettered access to information, be it positive or negative,
whether in the present or past.
“The fact
remains that the officer in question in our Benue office and many others
found in similar situations in some other states had diverted the fund
before the assumption of office of the current Registrar.”
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