The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Sonny Echono, has revealed that the fund will now focus on local scholarships and suspend the foreign scholarships.
Echono, while appearing at an investigative hearing organised by a House of Representatives ad hoc committee on Tuesday, said the current foreign exchange situation makes it impossible to continue the sponsorship of students overseas.
The House Committee is investigating the alleged mismanagement of over N24 trillion.
“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 on it.
“Most of our training now will be done locally through our experienced, first-generation universities and other specialized universities based here. This way we can retain our resources in house and cope with the change in foreign exchange rates,” he stated.
Speaking on the allegation of mismanagement of funds, the ES said it is the federal government that is owing the TETFUND.
He stated that the Federal Government owes N371.3 billion, which it has paid only N48 billion.
