The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) revealed that a total of 137 students, who were sponsored abroad by the fund, absconded.
Echono made this disclosure on Tuesday while testifying before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc committee. The committee is currently investigating the alleged mismanagement of N2.3 trillion meant for tertiary education tax by TETFund.
He stressed that the scholars who were sponsored by TETFund for “higher education” abroad refuse to return to the country after completing their programmes.
The Executive Secretary 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 has 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.”
Echono said TETFund is 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.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund stated that if the sponsored scholars who choose not to return to the country after completing their programs abroad refuse to repay the money spent on their education, they will be declared “persona non grata.” This means they will be considered unwelcome and undesirable individuals in Nigeria.
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 of TETFund mentioned that the organization might consider suspending foreign scholarships due to the ongoing exchange rate crisis.
Echono explained that some of the taxes received by TETFund are paid in foreign currencies and deposited in an account held with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
However, when it comes to paying the fees for scholars studying abroad, the Central Bank insists that TETFund must source foreign exchange (Forex) on its own. This could create challenges in funding foreign scholarships as the exchange rate fluctuations can significantly impact the cost of sponsoring students abroad.
As a result, the organization is contemplating the suspension of such scholarships until the exchange rate situation stabilizes or alternative solutions are found.
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.
“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 said most of our 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.
Echono also said the federal government was owning TETFund N371.3 billion out of which it has repaid N46 billion so far.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund refuted the allegations of mismanagement concerning the N2.3 trillion fund, asserting that the organization did not mismanage the funds in question.
On the other hand, Oluwole Oke, the chairman of the committee investigating the alleged mismanagement of the fund, clarified that the purpose of the probe is not to engage in a witch-hunt. He emphasized that the lawmakers’ objective is to put an end to the misuse of public funds.
