TETFund spends ₦3.8bn on stranded foreign scholars, disburses ₦1.45tr to beneficiary institutions in three years

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has reported spending ₦3.8 billion on Nigerian scholars studying abroad under its Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS) programme.

This announcement comes as the House of Representatives expressed concern over the slow pace at which beneficiary institutions access the Fund’s interventions.

During an oversight visit by members of the House Committee on TETFund and other Services to the Fund in Abuja, Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, stated that the bailout was for stranded foreign scholars from 2017 to date.

He explained that the scholars had sought the agency’s assistance due to the rising cost of living and fluctuating exchange rates.

The scholars are studying in countries including India, Kenya, the United Kingdom, and Malaysia.

Echono noted that some students had their courses and stays extended because they couldn’t register for certain courses on time due to the fluctuating exchange rate and high cost of living.

“What we have done now to try and nip the problem in the bud is that we pay for all your tuition directly to the institutions. We aggregate them. Instead of transferring small amounts for each scholar, we just aggregate that, and one application goes to the CBN on behalf of that institution. We just attach a schedule. So, we have been able to prevent future occurrences of the need for these bailouts.

“I am pleased to inform you that we were able to take care of over 1,500 scholars by giving them various amounts of bailouts based on their circumstances. A total sum of N3.8 billion was expended in this regard. The scholars are happy. We covered the period from 2017 to date,” Echono said.

He commended President Bola Tinubu for approving the funds, noting that it was not originally included in the agency’s disbursements for the year.

The secretary said that the Fund had disbursed about N1.45 trillion for infrastructural development to beneficiary institutions between 2020 and 2023, lamenting that most institutions have yet to access the 2023 and 2024 interventions.

He attributed this delay to bureaucratic bottlenecks, revealing that in most state institutions, some heads of tertiary institutions have yet to seek approval from their commissioners for information in the past two months.

“The issue of inadequate access to the funds that we allocate to schools is a very painful thing for us, especially given the inflationary trend. N1 billion two years ago is almost like N500,000 today or less. The more you delay the utilisation of this intervention, the less value you can get from it.

We have tried on our side. We studied the situation. There has been a significant improvement. We must commend some of the institutions compared to previous years, but they are not doing enough. We expected this year to be much better because we started very early. We got approval in December 2023, and by January 2024, we had already given them allocation letters. But some of them are still used to waiting until May/June to begin to apply.

“Beyond encouraging them, we organised workshops for all the beneficiary institutions across all six geopolitical zones, in partnership with the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), to explain to them how to meet the requirements for accessing these funds. Through our various platforms, we even did some coaching. And we prod them. Indeed, only last week, we had to send reminders for those who have not accessed 2023 and 2024 interventions.

“We have been appealing, encouraging, and threatening. In the past, there used to be some punitive measures that contributed to the problem. But we have removed that now. We have carried out reforms to ensure that our campuses return to campus architecture where you will see iconic buildings that have the character of an institution, not just small pockets of one-storey buildings. We have improved our turnaround time. It has nothing to do with here. There is nobody that will send a request to us; at the very maximum, it will be two weeks.”

Chairperson of the committee, Miriam Onuoha, decried the inability of beneficiary institutions to access funds meant for the infrastructural development of their schools.

The lawmaker appealed to relevant government bodies, especially state governors, to use their authority to ensure that heads of institutions comply with TETFund in accessing their funds.

She said the aim of the oversight visit was in line with the 1999 Constitution, the standing rules of the legislative body, and to review how the agency had performed in the 2022–2023 budget, in line with budgetary provisions.