The Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative (TADI), has passed a vote of confidence on the leadership of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for its high remittance to the national coffers.
The Director of Media and Advocacy of TADI, Comrade Adamu Kabir Matazu, who spoke with the media in Abuja said his group is out to set the records straight regarding the petition it earlier submitted to the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, EFCC and ICPC in respect of the allegations made by its sister organization, ‘Integrity and Transparency Watchdog’ against the person of Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, the Registrar JAMB.
He said TADI strive to promote and ensure public accountability and transparency in governance and it is always happy when it sees individuals and groups committed to the exposure of high level corruption cases which will no doubt help in entrenching good governance in Nigeria.
“However we are totally and completely against rubbishing and tarnishing the hard earned reputation of patriotic Nigerians who are diligently working to make Nigeria better.
“For the records, our organization Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative (TADI) sent a petition to the relevant Anti-corruption agencies with a view to causing them to jumpstart a thorough investigation about corruption allegations in JAMB under the watch of Prof. Is-haq Oloyede. Now, having being furnish with details of the activities of the Registrar and the way he manage public funds under his watch, we are bold to state that the information we got from our sister organization was misleading and do not depict the true happenings in JAMB. And when we investigative further, we realized that some people who are not happy with the reform he embarked upon in JAMB with the aim of sanitizing the place are the sponsors of the spurious allegations of corruption against the Registrar because it’s no longer business as usual.
“As a Civil Society Organization that has integrity as our watchword we cannot continue to be part of the selfish motive of some few corrupt individuals in JAMB that want to return the Board to the old ways and are hell-bent on dragging a man of integrity to the mud.
“The Hallmark of true leadership is to own up and take responsibility for decisions made regardless of the outcome. That’s why we are addressing the media today and inform them of our findings after deep and exhaustive investigation of the leadership of Prof Ishaq Oloyede. We found out that
“The prof Oloyede led management has through prudent management of resources, blockage of all corrupt channels yielded over N50b to the coffers of the federal government and other public interest. In it first year in the office, it remitted N7.8b to the Treasury Single Account. The highest the Board had remitted in the 40years of the existence before Prof Oloyede was appointed was less than N70m
“ The credibility of the examination has been improved through the credibility he introduced in the process chains and the inclusivity as today the Board is one of the most sort after public examination in Africa. The Board daily receives request for partnership from sister organization to train their staff on new forms of the conduct of public examination.
“The Board through the renewed image brought about by the divers innovations by prof Oloyede conducts qualifying examination for several national and international organizations like the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council for medical doctors who study abroad and wants to practice in Nigeria, it conduct examination for West African College of Surgeon and the West African College of Physicians for different medical specialties, oil companies, EFCC, Immigration etc.
“To demonstrate transparency and not waiting for any Freedom of Information request for financial transactions from the public, the Board without prompting publishes it weekly financial transactions in its weekly publication called the JAMBULLETIN for the public scrutinizing. This is the first of its kind in a parastatal.
“The Prof Oloyede led administration has completely block the corruption in admission by the introduction of an automated admissions platform called CAPS which has remove all human interferences in the conduct of admissions exercise in all tertiary institutions. He has constructed mega CBT centres across the country with befitting office accommodation.
“It is on this note that we are going to write and withdraw all the petitions we’ve earlier written to the Anti-corruption agencies and to equally pass a vote of confidence on the leadership of Prof Ishaq Oloyede. And we urge him to continue to sustain the tempo and not give in to the evil machinations of those who are trying hard to distract him from the good work he has been doing” he said
