How National Board For Arabic And Islamic Studies Spent N8.5bn To Hold One Exam, Generate N410m, Remit N35m

The National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies, an organization under the Federal Government, has been charged with spending N8.5 billion annually on its 5,963 employees to administer exams to students.

This information was made public during a meeting between the NBAIS leadership and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations.

The members of the committee expressed their displeasure with Prof. Mohammed Abdullahi, Registrar and Chief Executive of the NBAIS, for wasting so much money, achieving so little, and failing to transfer revenue to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Abdullahi claimed that the institution contributed N30 million to the CRF out of the N410 million earned from the conduct of the test.

The Chairman of the Committee, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, expressed his displeasure and questioned how the institution spent more than N410 million on just one exam in a year.

Adeola said: “To conduct an exam in a year, they are saying they have spent over N380 million, and you are here to collect another budget from the Federal Government.”

“Having contributed just N35 million.

“And if they are asked for their budget, they will be telling me in the region of N10 billion to N20 billion.”

Another lawmaker on the committee, Senator Abiodun Olujimi, stated that there is a need to investigate the activities of the institution.

Olujimi said: “5,963 members of staff arranging for one examination in a year and being paid N8.5 billion and now generating only N410 million, out of which you remit only N35 million?

“There is a need to look deeper into what this is all about.”

The committee resolved to set up a sub-committee that will investigate the activities of the institution, according to The Eagle Online