JAMB Vows To Prosecute ‘Money Swallowing Snake’

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has vowed to deploy all available resources to arrest and prosecute all those involved in the missing N36 million from its vault in Benue state.

Spokesman of the Board, Fabian Benjamin, said this in a statement on Tuesday.

Recall that last week, a sale clerk of JAMB in Benue, Philomina Chieshe, told a team of auditors that she could not account for N36 million she made in previous years before the abolition of scratch cards.

The money was said to be from the purchases of scratch cards from JAMB state offices and other designated centres.

Chieshe later confessed that her housemaid connived with Joan Asen, a JAMB official, to “spiritually” through a mysterious snake that always sneak into the office to swallow the money from the vault.

But speaking on Tuesday, Benjamin said all those behind the fraudulent act will be punished.

“On the snake issue, the board maintain that there is no hiding place for any form of crime to thrive in the running of the board’s activities,” the spokesman said in a statement.

“The board would deploy all available resources to arrest and prosecute anyone found undermining the integrity of the board, irrespective of who is involved.

“Ishaq Oloyede led management had on assumption of duty embarked on a tour of the board’s state offices to ascertain their actual financial standing and their general operations.

“Some of the reforms introduced by Oloyede when he assumed office in 2016 included the recommendation of an end to the use of scratch cards, replacing it with more efficient and effective modes of pin vending.

“The Unified Tertuary Matriculation Examination (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 account and activities that an official in charge of the Benue state office of the board was found wanting in an effort to give an accurate account of the proceeds realised from the sales of the cards.

“We are not going to take lightly our fight against corruption no matter who is involved. We are going to unravel, arrest and prosecute this alleged mysterious snake, 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.

“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.”