The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Wednesday has explained how it lost a total sum of N10 million naira to fraudsters in 2020.
Jamb Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed this to journalists in Abuja.
He said that fraudsters penetrated the board’s payment portal for ad hoc staff and stole the money, which was meant to pay JAMB ad hoc staff from the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The former University of Ilorin Vice Chancellor stated that ten persons were apprehended as suspects in Kaduna, Nasarawa and Abuja in connection with the online stealing of the money that was meant to be paid by the board.
His statement reads, “We did not ask anyone to apply to be an ad hoc staff on the site, we had already chosen them through recommendations from various agencies,” the registrar said.
“We only created the site just to pay them via a code that was assigned to them.
“However, these suspects gained access to the site, deleted the original account details and phone numbers and inserted theirs.
“We paid N20, 000 each for accommodation per night and N100, 000 for flight tickets, depending on the location of each staff to go and work for that period.
“The payments ranged from N200, 000 to over N300, 000 per person. Yet, these suspected fraudsters after gaining access to the sites, also inserted details for their family members.
“They didn’t go to partake in the exercise but ignored the messages sent from our domain.
“One of them, Saidu Zubairu, collected over N3.7 million for himself because he inserted the account details of his mother, sisters and other family members.
“We have not calculated all the monies they all have so far received but altogether, the amount will definitely sum up to more than N10 million.
“We have already paid the original owners, though it took us over a year to track the suspects but we finally apprehended them and I assure you the law will take its course.”
Prof Oloyede further submitted that JAMB will get rid of corrupt practices in its system, adding that some of the illegalities had prompted changes in its mode of operations.
Narrating his involvement, Mr. Zubairu, one of the 10 apprehended suspects, said he got the code for the site through his friend (currently at large) and indulged others.
His word reads, “I succeeded in changing the original details in the site and asked eight other friends of mine to do the same and they confirmed receipt of payment afterwards,” he said.
He said he added the details of 12 family members to the site who were also paid above N300, 000.
He, however, pleaded that they be forgiven while promising to reimburse the money if given sufficient time.
