The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has made an interim remittance of N3.5b to the Federal Government consolidated account for 2020.

This is in line with the exam body’s established tradition of remitting excess funds generated from its operations to the federal government.

According to a statement signed by JAMB’s Head of Media, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the board earlier made a payment of over N3.5b to candidates by way of reduction of N1,500 from the cost of each ePIN sold to each candidate as directed by President Buhari.

It said the reduction now brings the total of remittances already made in 2020 to over N7b.

“From the outset, it had been the intention of the present leadership of the Board to return to federal coffers, whatever is left unutilised from its operational imperatives.”

“The immediate benefit of the move manifested in the reduction by President Muhammadu Buhari of the UTME Registration fee payable by candidates from N5000 to N3500 which entails the transfer of over N3b to candidates and guardians annually via the reduction in the cost of application documents,”

The statement said before the reduction in the cost of application for EPINs, the Board had remitted over N7b in 2017 and replicated the same in subsequent years.

But to sustain the remittance culture, JAMB says it intends to come up with innovations to ensure that candidates are provided with world-class services at modest cost as obtained anywhere in the world.