The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has reported that over 137 students on scholarship programs abroad absconded after completing their programs.
Sonny Echono, the Executive Secretary of TETFUND, confirmed this on Tuesday when he testified before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee probing TETFUND’s alleged mismanagement of the N2.3 trillion tertiary education tax.
Echono stated that scholars who were sponsored by TETFUND for “higher education” abroad refuse to return to the country after completing their study programmes.
He said “Some of the scholars that have been sponsored, unpatriotically when they go, they enjoy our scholarship, acquire a higher degree, then refuse to come back, it has become a major crisis.
“The scholarship requires that you will come back. It is required that you have a guarantor and in many cases, the guarantor had suffered undue hardship because when you disappear we hold the guarantor to pay all the money expended on your behalf but that has not been effective.”
He further stated that TETFUND was working with stakeholders for “stringent and effective measures” to be taken against those who refuse to return to the country for Nigerians to benefit from their expertise.
“We believe that in a system where we work with our embassies and the institutions, we can enforce the repayment for those who insist they will not come back,” he said.
He further stated that if scholars who do not wish to return to the country refuse to repay the funds spent on their programs, they will be labeled persona non grata.
Echono said: “We will write to the embassies and they will make it available to those countries and they will not be able to get jobs. They will be seen as fugitives of law from their countries.
“We may have to take that hard stand because the numbers are alarming. We just checked about 40 institutions and over 137 absconders and the review is ongoing.
“It is a huge number that we cannot afford and so we will be seeking your support to strengthen some of the existing regulations to ensure that those who benefit from this programme must come back.
“We are not against people looking for greener pastures but do so on your own, not through our scholarship or our sponsorship.”
The Executive Secretary said due to the currency rate issue, the Executive Secretary stated that TETFUND may halt international scholarship.
Echono stated that some taxes are paid to TETFUND in foreign currency through an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, but when fees are to be paid for students abroad, the apex bank requires TETFUND to source Forex on its own.
He added, “We operate a system where our forex is being sold on our behalf at an official rate and we apply like anybody else to get it, sometimes it leads to additional cost.
“Currently as I speak, we are in consultations with all our stakeholders to suspend foreign training for a year or two.
“This is because of the recent exchange rate adjustments. We are unable to continue based on our disbursement guidelines.
“This is because of the recent exchange rate adjustments. We are unable to continue based on our disbursement guidelines.
“The money we allocated in naira cannot cover the dollar requirement for training. For those who are currently there, we now need more naira to pay for the dollar that is required for their annual fees. We are trying to put a hold.”
He announced that most of the training will now be done locally through “our experienced, first-generation universities and other specialised universities” in the country.
“This way we can retain our resources in-house and cope with the change of foreign exchange variation,” he added.
