Forex Crisis: TETFUND considers canceling foreign training for staff, students

According to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), staff and student overseas training may be put on hold.

Sonny Echono, the TETFUND’s executive secretary, announced this on Wednesday in Abuja at a one-day stakeholder engagement on emerging issues with the TETFund intervention.

Since the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) recent policy had made it difficult to pay for foreign scholarships, tuition, and stipends, Echono claimed that such training could be discontinued.

He said that the money allotted to service programs for its Tertiary Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS) was bare enough.

As a result, TETFUND is thinking of suspending foreign scholarships and exploring the potential for an increase in domestic scholarship levels.

 “The fund at this material time is also discouraging beneficiary institutions from initiating new Benchwork programmes,” Echono said.

“Additionally, there are issues related to scholars not returning to serve their bonds at their home institutions upon completion of their programmes.

“Infact, the challenge of scholars absconding has undermined and complicated the TSAS programme and brought it under intense scrutiny.

“It is for these and other reasons that this engagement was organised. We need to address these challenges and find solutions to ensure the effective and smooth implementation of our scholarship programmes,” he said.

Echono had stated on Tuesday during his appearance at a House of Representatives ad hoc committee’s investigative hearing that the current foreign exchange scenario makes it impossible to continue sponsoring students studying abroad.

The House Committee is looking into allegations that TETFUND mismanaged more than N24 trillion. “The money we allocated in naira cannot cover the dollar requirement for training,” he told the House of Reps.

“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 on it.

“Most of our trainings now will be done locally through our experienced, first-generation universities and other specialized universities based here.

“This way, we can retain our resources in house and cope with the change in foreign exchange rates.”