TETFund Suspends Foreign Scholarship for Lecturers Over High Costs, High Rates of Abscondment

By: AbdulWasiu Akintunde

The Board of Trustees of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has approved the suspension of the foreign component of the TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS) intervention with effect from January 1, 2025.

The Director of Public Affairs, TETFund, Abdulmumin Oniyangi, announced this in a statement issued earlier this week.

The statement said the suspension of the scholarship for lecturers was in response to the excessive cost of training in foreign institutions as well as the high rate of abscondment of foreign scholars.

But it stated that the TETFund scholars who have already enrolled in foreign institutions would continue to draw down on their scholarships till the end of their programmes.

The statement read: “It is expected that the suspension will conserve and reduce the pressure on foreign exchange rate, boost investment and local capacity in Nigerian tertiary educational institutions and significantly increase the number of beneficiaries of the intervention.

“To this end, TETFund, in collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC) has intensified efforts in the implementation of the Trans-national Education Guidelines recently approved by President Bola Tinubu.”

The TETFund statement added that under the scheme, top-ranking institutions from the United Kingdom, United States, Malaysia, and Brazil, among others, would be encouraged to mount programmes in partnership with Nigerian institutions.

It further stated that this is in a bid to offer the same standard and quality of courses that are obtainable in their home institutions.

The statement added that beneficiary institutions of TETFund had been advised to prioritise their training needs for implementation in Nigerian institutions and ensure strict compliance.