The Federal Government has revealed that it allocated ₦3.8 billion to support stranded Nigerian scholars overseas in recent times.
The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Sonny Echono, made this known on Thursday in Abuja during a meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on TETFund.
He said that the Fund has provided support to 1,500 scholars, totaling ₦3.8 billion in funding.
Reacting to the reported delay in scholarship payments, Echono clarified that the recent spike in foreign exchange rates has raised concerns among scholars from various countries, including the United Kingdom and Malaysia.
Echono confirmed that these concerns had been communicated to the National Assembly, the Presidential Villa, the Ministry of Education, and even TETFund.
“We were happy that the response was very positive and that was why we were able to secure the President’s approval and do what we called the bail out or assistance.
“We did observe that part of the challenge.
“In the past, each time we send funding for the institutions, we send money directly to the schools and it is the responsibility of the institutions to now remit to the students.
“However, for illegitimate and legitimate reasons, many of the institutions came back to us and complained that it takes a whole lot of time to process the transfers to central bank.
“But we now pay directly to the institution as part of our intervention,” he said.
Echono disclosed that Nigeria’s performance in research grants has improved, moving from 9th to 7th place in Africa.
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