…Laments failure of beneficiaries to serve their bonds at home institutions after completing programmes

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETfund, said it has successfully sponsored over 37,000 scholars for both foreign and local PhDs, Masters, Bench Work, and Postdoctoral programmes in various institutions.

But it disclosed that it was considering suspending the segment of the foreign component of the scholarship due to the recent CBN monetary policy, which it noted,resulted in a sharp drop in the value of the Naira thus creating difficulties in the payment of foreign scholarship tuition fees and stipends.

The development came even as TETFund recently signed several Memoranda of Understanding,MoU’s with some prestigious institutions overseas, including universities in Malaysia, India, Brazil, France and the United States with a view to boosting and enhancing the TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff, TSAS programme.

Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono,who said these on Wednesday,at a One-Day Stakeholders’ Engagement on Emerging Issues that Affect TETFund Intervention Programmes,in Abuja, lamented the deliberate failure of beneficiaries to return to serve their bonds at their home institutions upon completion of their programmes.

He said: ”The Fund, for instance, has successfully sponsored over 37,000 scholars for both foreign and local PhDs, Masters, Bench Work, and Postdoc programs in various institutions.

“Recently, we encountered difficulties that compelled a review of foreign scholarships. The recent CBN monetary policy, which resulted in a sharp drop in the value of the Naira has created difficulties in the payment of foreign scholarship tuition fees and stipends.

“As a solution, we are considering suspending the segment of the foreign component of the TETFund scholarship outside the 11 MOUs executed by the Fund, while considering an upward review of the local TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff,TSAS intervention.

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“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 undermine and complicated the TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS) program and bringing it under intense scrutiny.

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

Echono said the “Fund at this material time is also discouraging beneficiary institutions from initiating new Benchwork programmes.”

Explaining that the engagement was to foster open dialogue and collaboration among the Fund’s key stakeholders, Echono said: ”We understand the significance of your collective insights, ideas, and feedback in enhancing the effectiveness of our intervention programs. It is through the shared efforts that we can drive positive changes and accelerate the development of our nation’s education sector.”

He spoke further: “As an agency of the government tasked with rebuilding and supporting the nation’s tertiary institutions, we are fully aware of the enormous responsibility and task before us, especially considering the importance of tertiary education in nation-building.

“The Fund has been entrusted with the responsibility of rehabilitating the physical infrastructure and other content aspects of the nation’s entire public tertiary institutions. To fulfill this mission, various intervention lines of the Fund were established.

“Over the years, the Fund has not only supported public tertiary institutions in the rehabilitation and provision of physical infrastructure but has also contributed to the training of academic staff in postgraduate studies both locally and internationally.

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” It has also supported the development and conversion of manuscripts into books and invested in the libraries of these institutions with materials and other resources. Additionally, the Fund has provided support for conference attendance, research, and publications, significantly improving the standard and quality of teaching, and learning in our nation’s tertiary institutions. Despite the progress achieved, much still needs to be done, and the Fund remains committed to continuously improving its services and operations through stakeholder engagement and other means.”

The TETFund boss noted that since his assumption of office, he has taken significant steps aimed at repositioning and advancing TETFund’s objectives.

“This One-Day Interactive Engagement with Heads of Beneficiary Institutions was initiated last year to gather valuable feedback on TETFund intervention projects. These invaluable inputs received have been instrumental in refining our strategies and ensuring that our projects are tailored to meet the specific needs of beneficiary institutions. Some of the reforms implemented include a review of the Audit Process to curb attendant delays. We also took proactive steps to address issues related to distressed and abandoned projects across institutions.

“By strengthening and streamlining our proposals review process and implementing a robust Monitoring & Evaluation policy, we have been able to achieve smoother and faster execution of physical infrastructure interventions. Issues related to variation of projects have constantly featured in my engagements with institutions.

“The rate of inflation in the country has made it necessary that we reconsider the fixed cost regime for physical infrastructure intervention depending on the project lifecycle.

“Projects with more than one year lifecycle are likely to be affected by inflation and rise in cost of materials, as such variation in such cases may be justifiable. The Fund is further considering either converting the Fabrication interventions line to Skills acquisition or introducing Skill Acquisition as an Annual Direct Disbursement Intervention line. There is also the need to undertake a comprehensive audit of all equipment, particularly the skill G equipment, procured and delivered to institutions to establish their status and identify those that require upgrade,”he further said.

According to him, in recognition of the importance of empowering the staff of Career Units in Nigerian universities,the Fund had designed a Capacity Building programme specifically for “these staff members.”

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“This programme will equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to support students in developing capabilities to find and sustain meaningful employment. The train-the-trainer (TTT) model will be adopted, where three (3) participants from each beneficiary university will receive training from the IFC experts on the details of setting up or restructuring career services units to meet global standards. These trained participants will then pass on their knowledge to other staff members of career support units at their respective universities.

“We believe that these initiatives along with the NSQF designed for the Polytechnic sector, will contribute significantly to the improvement of employability practices in Nigeria and pave the way for a brighter future for our graduates. We extend our deep appreciation to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for their unwavering support as we strive to create a stronger and more prosperous future for our graduates and the nation,” he said.

Going further,he said: “In our efforts to leverage on communication and information technology to expand access, improve quality and promote inclusiveness in the delivery of tertiary education in our country.

“The Fund has intensified the implementation of our digital literacy road map starting from home, we have commenced the full implementation of the LDI online submissions platform. Henceforth the submission of proposals for the physical infrastructure projects by institutions will be carried out online.

“The provision of fixed mobile internet services to staff and students of various institutions programme will also be fully implemented.

“The Fund is also implementing the converged services programme which includes capacity development and train the trainer [TTT] on communication skills and online certification courses for students across institutions.

“The capacity-building programme and training-the-trainer and technical works for blackboard enhanced e-learning platform is currently being implemented, while the phase two of the thesis digitization project will proceed as planned.”