Lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund received details of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board's financial projections for 2026 on Wednesday, with the examination body outlining a ₦30.6 billion spending plan that includes deploying 1,000 examination centres nationwide.
Muftau Bello, a director in the office of the JAMB registrar, appeared before the committee on behalf of Prof. Ishaq Oloyede to defend the budget proposal and provide updates on the board's preparations for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
"A total of ₦30.6 billion budget profile is proposed by JAMB in 2026, out of which ₦23.8 billion is to be generated internally and ₦6 billion to be remitted into the federation account as operating surplus for the year," Bello stated.
He disclosed that the board recorded ₦18.5 billion in internally generated revenue in 2025 and remitted ₦4 billion to the federation account during the same period.
On the expansion of examination infrastructure, Bello announced that JAMB has increased its centres from fewer than 800 in 2025 to 1,000 for the 2026 examination cycle, a development aimed at improving access and reducing congestion during registration and examination periods.
The committee chairman, Muntari Dandutse, who represents Katsina South, praised the board's performance under Prof. Oloyede's leadership. In contrast, Amos Yohanna, senator representing Adamawa North, called on JAMB to reconsider the current ₦3,500 examination fee and implement further reductions.
Bello reminded everyone that the fee had been ₦5,000 before the current registrar reduced it to ₦3,500.
