Nigerians studying in Malaysia under the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Academic Staff Training and Development (AST&D) have written to the Fund requesting bailouts.
In a letter to TETFund Executive Secretary Sonny Echono, Malaysian academics said exchange rate fluctuations, caused by the recent floating of the Naira and the ongoing impact of COVID-19, have affected its maintenance.
The scholars asked TETFund to revise its scholarship fund model to reflect current economic realities and provide them with a bailout that allows them to complete their programs successfully and on time.
“With a high sense of humility, patriotism and respect, TETFund scholars at various Malaysian institutions under the intervention of TETFund Academic Staff Training and Development (AST&D) write to make an impassioned call for a bailout to improve financial constraints. caused by fluctuations in the exchange rate due to the new CBN Naira float policy, the impact of the pandemic and the current economic reality,” the academics said.
TETFund speaks
Reacting to the letter, TETFund spokesman Abdulmumin Oniyangi said that the Fund is currently discussing issues arising from the unification of the exchange rate.
Oniyangi said that in recent weeks the Fund had met with stakeholders to brainstorm ways to overcome the challenges.
He noted that the commission would soon collect recommendations and devise a solution to the challenge.
“That was one of the reasons we had a stakeholder engagement not long ago. These are emerging issues: we present them to stakeholders, telling them this is what has happened and all that. How do we move forward?” he said.
“So right now, as we speak, we’re still gathering input from the people we serve before we finally get to a point where it becomes a policy on how to address it.”
He explained that TETFund had met with the heads of all the beneficiary institutions and with the CEOs of the institutions in recent weeks.
Echono, the executive secretary, recently appeared before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged mismanagement of 2.3 trillion naira in tertiary education taxes by TETFund.
At the hearing, he hinted that the government agency might suspend foreign scholarships due to additional costs resulting from exchange rate fluctuations.
“Currently, as I speak, we are in consultation with all of our stakeholders to suspend overseas training for one to two years… this is due to recent exchange rate adjustments,” he said.
“We cannot continue under our disbursement guidelines.”
About TETFund
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund was established in 2011 to manage and improve the disbursement of the Education Tax Fund to Nigerian universities which have witnessed several strikes by academic unions due to lack of funding.
TETfund’s main source of income is the two per cent education tax paid out of the taxable profits of companies registered in Nigeria.
ALSO READ: FG has yet to repay the 323bn naira they lent us – TETFUND
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter for Premium Times in association with Report for the World, which pairs local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-reported issues around the world.
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