JAMB To Build N6billion Headquarters In Abuja

JAMB is set to build N6billion headquarters in Abuja, The Nation can confirm.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has proposed to build a N6 billion new headquarters in the central area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The examination body, which is currently located in the Bwari area of the nation’s capital, announced this when it appeared yesterday before the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives.

Its appearance in the investigative hearing followed a query from the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) over dwindling revenues to the Federal Government.

The Director of Finance and Administration, Mufutau Bello, who appeared before the committee on behalf of JAMB, said the organisation had been saving N2 billion annually since 2018 to raise the money for the project.

He said JAMB had realised N5.5 billion so far, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic affected its internally generated revenue (IGR) in 2020.

He said: “We are proposing to move our headquarters to the Central Area (of Abuja). We have a plan of over N6 billion. But since we don’t collect subvention from the government for our overhead and capital, every year, from 2018, we have been setting aside N2 billion because our target is N6 billion to be able to acquire our headquarters in the Central Area. The money is in our Treasury Single Account (TSA). We had a challenge in 2020 because of COVID-19. So, we could not realise our budget. So far, we have realised about 5.5 billion.”

Committee Chairman Oluwole Oke said it was not wise to keep such an amount of money idle without investing it.

Oke said: “You cannot keep such money idling in an account. That is poor treasury management.”