Nigeria’s Universities’ lecturers studying abroad under Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) sponsorship have appealed for the President Bola Tinubu’s intervention over their unpaid bailout fund.

The scholars under the aegis of Omitted Foreign Scholars (OFS) made the plea in a save our soul letter dated June 6, 2024 to President Tinubu.

The Chairman of the Foreign Scholars, Kamal Odunjo-Saka lamented that 45% of scholars studying under the TETFUND sponsorship programme were omitted in the disbursement of funds.

Odunjo-Saka noted that the development had subjected the affected scholars to unfavourable harsh conditions amidst the prevailing global economic realities.

He said TETFund refused to pay them on the excuse that they were not qualified, based on programme status, when they were approached, asserting that there was no segregation of scholars or any discrepancies during the agreement of conditions for bailout.

He explained that they had witnessed instances where TETFund paid scholars who even completed their programme as early as 2022 and yet refused to pay the scholars currently under its sponsorship and those that recently completed their programme which as a result run into financial crises.

“Currently, about 45 percent of the TETFund sponsored foreign scholars were omitted in the disbursement of the presidential-approved bailout by TETFund, subjecting scholars to harsh conditions amidst the current economic realities.

“While we tried to engage TETFund to ensure fairness in the disbursement, scholars were told that some are not qualified, based on programme status, while our recent request for engagement was turned down by the Fund.” He said.

Meanwhile, both scholars on their programme and those recently completed were unjustly omitted without any tangible justification provided.

“Initially, there was no segregation of scholars or any discrepancies during the agreement of conditions for bailout. Also, both ongoing and completed Scholars were paid during the first and second tranches of the disbursed bailout paid between January to March 2024. (The Nation)

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