JAMB Discovers N83 Million Fraud In 5 States

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, just discovered a fresh case of fraud totaling N83 million uncovered in its state offices in Kano, Edo, Kogi, Gombe,

and Plateau.

While the board was investigating N31 million misappropriated revenue in Edo and N20 million in Kano, it was quizzing officials in Plateau and Gombe over N15 million and N10 million mismanaged in the states respectively.

Also, it was learnt that the examination board was investigating the misappropriation of N7 million in its office in Kogi State.

Fabian Benjamin, the head of information for JAMB, who confirmed the figures on Friday, February 16, 2018, said the board would be diligent in its investigations and would not tolerate corrupt practices from any of its officials.

“We will monitor with careful scrutiny how workers handled public funds. We are trying to block all leakages and loopholes,” he said.

A reliable source told our correspondent that all the workers of the board found to have been involved in corrupt activities being investigated had been suspended while investigations were ongoing.

He said, “What happened was that we had a panel session in Abuja and most of the state coordinators could not account for how some monies were spent or remitted. The coordinator of Kano State could not account for N20 million, while the Edo office could not account for N31 million. In Plateau State, we are looking at N15 million.

“For Kogi State, we have about N7 million that is a source of contention while Gombe office has N10 million that is also a source of contention. You can then sum it up and know how much corruption ate deep into some officials.

“The registrar is frank and thorough about the investigations and he has warned to transfer some of the cases to the police and to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.”

A case of N36 million allegedly misappropriated by a clerk at the JAMB office in Makurdi, Benue State, Philomena Chieshe, was recently reported by the media.

It was reported that Chieshe had claimed in her statement that a mystery snake sneaked into the accounts office and swallowed the cash.

Also, Labaran Tanko, another JAMB worker in Nasarawa State, was reported on Wednesday to be undergoing investigation over a suspected fraud involving N26 million.