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Exchange rate: FG spends N3.8bn on 1,500 scholars studying abroad
The executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, an architect, said a total of N3.8 billion had been expended on 1,500 Nigerian scholars abroad under its academic training programme as a bailout fund to cushion the effect of the current exchange rate of the naira.
Echono, who disclosed this during an oversight visit to the Fund by the House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund led by the chairman, Princess Miriam Onuoha on Thursday in Abuja, said various amounts of bailout were given based on the circumstance of the scholars.
“We have taken care of 1,500 scholars with a total of N3.8 billion expended. We identify a cut-off point for those who will be eligible for the scholarship,” Echono said.
He said the high exchange rate caused some challenges for TETFund-sponsored scholars as many of them requested extra funding, adding that the issue has also resulted in a drop in the number of beneficiaries of the Fund’s academic training programme in foreign institutions.
While saying that the remittances process for scholars in the past was not that good, Echono said many of the institutions came back to TETFund expressing concerns over the payment system.
He said the collection from education tax in 2020 was N257 billion, and by 2021, the Fund received a sharp decline in the tax collection of N185.5 billion and rose to N328.8 billion in 2022 and N725 billion in 2023 respectively.
On the issue of attracting foreign grants for cutting-edge research, Echono said that before now, Nigeria was not doing well, adding that through the efforts of TETFund the story has now changed as it moved from the 9th position to the 7th in Africa in terms of countries that attract the highest research grants on the continent.
In her remarks, the chairman of the committee, Rep Miriam Onuoha, said the visit was meant to see how the agency had performed in the 2021-2023 budgets, in line with the budgetary provision and to ensure that allocations are used judiciously.
She lauded Echono for how he meticulously executed projects and other interventions in line with the mandate of the TETFund.
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Edo guber: LP’s Akpata remains a front runner, set to capture Edo
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Less than twenty-four hours to the start of voting in Saturday’s governorship poll in Edo State, a rash of fake news has broken out.
Leading parties in the election have had their fair shares of fake news either indicating the withdrawal of their candidates or disqualification by a Magistrate Court or Supreme Court.
For instance, Olumide Akpata of LP was said to have withdrawn from the race and thrown his support for Asue Ighodalo in a statement that read smoothly and appeared convincing.
THE CONCLAVE sent the statement to Akpata via WhatsApp for confirmed.
He responded by sending the same statement with FAKE NEWS boldly stamped on it.
He said he was set for victory at the poll.
There was also a news flash about the Supreme Court disqualifying Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party, with a sign off: More details coming….
A Magistrate Court in Abuja was also reported to have disqualified Monday Okpebholo of the APC from the poll on account of age falsification.
The APC campaign organisation had swiftly put a lie to the report by deploying the court papers in the circumstance.
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