Posted on: 06:52 Wed, 21 Feb 2018



Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Ishaq Oloyede, has claimed that the N36m that was allegedly swallowed by a snake from the board’s office in Makurdi went missing before he came on board.

According to him, the said money was stolen before his appointment as the Registrar.

Speaking on Focus, a programme monitored by DAILY POST on AIT, Oloyede said it is totally wrong to label JAMB as a stinking organisation.

He said, “In the case of the snake swallowing money, I think what happened was something that happened towards the tail end of 2016.

“I came in later part of 2016 and my mandate was to correct things that were not properly done.

But I had the fortune or misfortune of having those selling the scratch cards prior to my appointment to give account since we stopped the sale of the scratch cards.

“And in the course of our investigation, some nasty stories were being told, which, of course we didn’t buy and that was why we took the appropriate decision.

“To us in JAMB, it was an old story because it wasn’t a recent issue, it happened few months after I came on board.

“When they could not account for the money, I had to invite them and to tell us what happened to the money.

“They were more ridiculous stories than the snake swallowing money story. In fact, some of the stories that entered the media were even smaller than what I heard in the course of my investigation.

“We have 1,500 staff members; there are wonderful individuals among them so I wouldn’t want to dent their images by mentioning those revelations that came up.

“We had a story of some invigilators, who went for invigilation and were giving N1m to allow students indulge in examination malpractice, because their lives were in danger, they accepted the money and deposited in JAMB’s account, that are the people we should celebrate and those saying spiritual snake swallowed their money.”