Exchange Rate: ‘We May Suspend Foreign Scholarship For Students’ — TETFund

Executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, says owing to the exchange rate crisis the country is faced with, it may suspend conducting foreign scholarship for “a year or two.”

Echono spoke on Tuesday when he appeared before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the alleged abuse of N2.3 trillion tertiary education tax by TETFund from 2011 to 2023.

According to him, some of the taxes are paid to TETFund in foreign currencies at the account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) but when fees are to be paid for scholars abroad, the apex bank insists on TETFund sourcing forex by itself.

“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.

READ ALSO: Scholarship Recipients Refused To Return To Nigeria After They Graduate — TETFund Laments

“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

He said 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 however denied allegations that TETFund mismanaged funds to the tune of N2.3 trillion.

Meanwhile, Oluwole Oke, chairman of the committee, said the probe is not to witchhunt, adding that the lawmakers are out to stop the misuse of public funds.