Shehu Sani, a senator representing Kaduna Central, on Tuesday,
surprised the staff and management of the Joint Admission and
Matriculation Board (JAMB), by storming the headquarters of the board
with anti-snake venom and charmers, a day after a staff claimed
missing N36 million was eaten by snake
While speaking during the visit, the senator said he visited the JAMB
headquarters to ascertain the truth of the matter and to lend his
“assistance”.
JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, was said to have busted as the
lawmaker presented him with two packs of anti-snake venom and offered
the services of two snake charmers to fish out snakes that swallowed
huge amount of money.
Sani said the “reason for my presence here is in response to the story
that a snake swallowed about N36 million. It is my concern that such a
huge amount of money is reported to have been swallowed by a snake.
“I believe the contribution I can make is to bring snake charmers from
my constituency to the JAMB office to help them fish out the snake or
weed out snakes from their premises.
“If a snake can actually swallow N36 million one day we may wake up in
this country to see that a snake has swallowed our foreign reserve or
it has swallowed money that was gathered in the TSA.”
One of the snake charmers, Tasiu Abdulrasheed, who claimed to have
been a professional snake charmer for up to 20 years, said he has
never encountered a money-swallowing reptile.
“I inherited the skill from my grandfather and I’ve been doing it for
up to 20 years. I have dealt with different types of snakes, including
pythons, cobra and others, but I have never captured a snake that
swallowed money. My master has at different times captured snakes that
swallowed various kinds of animals but he has never caught one that
swallowed money,” he said.
Meanwhile, in reaction to alleged snake swallowing N36 million, the
registrar of Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), Ishaq
Oloyede, has warned that the board will not hesitate to arrest and
prosecute anyone that tries to undermine its integrity.
It would be recalled that Oloyede had on assumption of duty embarked
on a tour of the Board’s state offices to ascertain the actual
financial standing and
general operations of the board.
It was during the audit process that an employee of JAMB, Philomina
Chieshe, told a committee set up to audit the sale of Unified Tertiary
Matriculation Examination (UTME), forms before the board started
online sales that a “mystery snake” sneaked into its accounts office
and made away with the cash.
In a statement issued by the board in Abuja, and signed by Fabian
Benjamin, the Board maintained that there is no hiding place for any
form of crime to thrive in the running of the Board’s activities.
According to the registrar, the Board will deploy all available
resources to arrest and prosecute any one found undermining the
integrity of the Board, irrespective of who is involved.
Oloyede when he assumed office in 2016 included the decision to end
the use of scratch cards, replacing it with more efficient and
effective modes of ePpin vending.
“The 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.
” It is in the process of the routine audit and other checks of state
offices’ accounts and activities that an official in charge of revenue
collection in the Benue State office of the Board was found wanting in
her inability to give an accurate account of the proceeds realized
from the sales of the cards.
“We are not going to take lightly our fight against corruption no
matter who is involved.
” The Board is ready to arrest and prosecute any officer offering this
alleged mysterious snake story as an alibi of how the money
disappeared, just as we are going to bring to book any of our officers
or stakeholders who is caught in any activities not in line with the
Board’s policies”, he said.
JAMB boss continued, “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”.
Another such case uncovered by the Oloyede Management led team is that
of a state officer who also failed to give account of monies realized
from the sales of similar scratch cards but rather claimed that he was
on his way to Abuja from his state office to return unsold scratch
cards when he was involved in a car crash and the car was burnt with
the cards along with.
He noted, ” The Board will monitor with careful scrutiny, how
entrusted staff handle government funds, as well as block all leakages
and loop holes.
.
“The Board would not leave any stone unturned in its fight to stamp
out corruption in its activities.
“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.
He disclosed that the management is working assiduously to arrest and
hand over to the appropriate quarters, this “alleged snake” that
swallowed governments’ N36 million and a host of others still in our
system”.
He also reiterated that the sale of 2018 UTME application form has
closed, but said candidates who paid and obtained ePins to quickly
complete their registration within 24hrs.
“For purposes of emphasis, this applies to only candidates who
initiated the registration process and procured the registration ePins
but could not register at any accredited CBT Center for one reason or
the other.
“Take note that candidates are not to generate any profile codes
(55019) for the purpose of 2018 UTME registration as doing so would
have no effect and a waste of time and resources. Profile codes
generation through 55019 will only be used for Direct Entry
Registration which is still ongoing.
The Board commenced the sale of the 2018 UTME registration on the 6th
of December, 2017 and was to close on the 6th of February, 2018 but
extended to 11th of February, 2018.
As at the close of ePin vending, a total of 1,662,818 candidates paid
and obtained the ePins whilst 1,650,547 had successfully registered
for the 2018 UTME.
LAIDE AKINBOADE-ORIERE
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