The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is ready to arraign 5 JAMB officials for diverting millions of JAMB procurement funds, including Philomena Chieshe of Markurdi branch who famously claimed a snake had swallowed the sum of N36M.

Also to be arraigned is her coordinator, Mr. Samuel Umoru, who, according to  Chieshe, instructed her to divert the funds.

Others found wanting by the anti graft agency include Tanko Labaran, the clerk in Nasarawa State office of JAMB who could not account for scratch cards worth N23m; and the officer in charge of the Kano office of the board, Yakubu Jakada, for his inability to account for e-facilities cards valued at N20m sold through an agent in one of the banks.

Some officials of the Gombe office are also expected to be arraigned for complicity in the matter.

We have concluded investigations into the officials and they will be arraigned very soon.”

According to report, The EFCC source said Chieshe, who is a clerk in the Makurdi office of JAMB, revealed that the coordinator usually asked her to withdraw proceeds of the sale of the cards from her account in two banks.

The source explained that before the introduction of Treasury Single Accounts, the practice was that JAMB officials kept the proceeds of the sale of cards in unauthorised bank accounts which led to the loss of billions of naira.

In the statement she made to the EFCC under oath, Chieshe said, “I withdrew this money from the bank and the coordinator used it for the office and some time for his personal needs .”

She claimed that she had been warning her supervisor that it was improper to spend the (JAMB) money on miscellaneous expenses in the office or for private purposes but that he would not listen.

Earlier, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, had said JAMB unprecedented remittance of  N5bn to the government’s coffers with a pledge to pay the balance of N3bn compared to maximum N3m remitted that had been the bemchbenc.

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