* Urge Tinubu, Senate to come to their rescue
By Nudoiba Ojen
Nigerian scholars overseas on the sponsorship of Tertiary Education Trust Fund have appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the Senate to prevail on TETFUND to pay the remaining 45 per cent of them allegedly omitted in disbursement of bailout funds.
The Nigerians, under the aegis of Omitted TETFUND Foreign Scholars, in a statement by the Chairman, Kamal A. Odunjo-Saka and Secretary, Dr N. B. Essein, accused TETFUND of being selective in the implementation of President Tinubu’s directive that it should support all foreign Nigerian scholars affected by the galloping exchange rate.
The scholars across Europe, Asia, America and other parts of the globe, appreciated the Nigerian government for the award of different categories of scholarships including M.Sc, Ph.D, Benchwork, and Postdoctoral degrees through TETFund and as well President Tinubu for the move to bring relief to all Nigerian foreign scholars through approval of bailout for them.
According to them, “the bailout is to cushion effects of the hardships and challenges arising from COVID-19 disruption of programmes to naira exchange rate volatility and its associated skyrocketed inflation”.
But Odunjo-Saka and Essien in their appeals to President Tinubu and the Senate stated, “We write to bring to your notice, our deep displeasure, total dissatisfaction, and complete disappointment, the deliberate decision of TETFund not to implement Mr President’s directive to pay all Foreign TETFund scholars within 2017 to 2023. Rather, a handful of selected scholars foreign scholars were paid.
“Even though Mr President has unambiguously spelled out a directive that all Nigerian TETFund-sponsored foreign scholars should be bailed out and relieved from this ugly situation, we regret to inform you that about 45% of TETFund sponsored scholars abroad who studied between 2017-2023 were deliberately omitted from this financial assistance by the Fund.
“The omission of such a significant number of scholars raises serious concerns regarding the transparency and integrity of the disbursement process. It is unfathomable that deserving scholars, who have diligently pursued their studies abroad under the auspices of TETFund, should be overlooked in such a critical moment.
“Hence, we humbly write to appeal for your kind, considerate and urgent intervention on our behalf, for TETFund to bail out all omitted scholars between 2017 to 2023, to avert the current hardship being experienced by these scholars, ” they stated.
Recall that TETFUND had in May 2024 stated that it had taken care of 1500 scholars with a total of N3.8b extended, saying it identified a cut-off point for those who would be eligible for the scholarship.
