50% of Sponsored Students Abroad Don’t Want to Return, TETFund Secretary

The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, has disclosed that nearly half of Nigerian students sponsored abroad for higher education are reluctant to return to the country. In an interview with Grace Edema, Echono outlined critical challenges facing tertiary institutions in Nigeria, including electricity costs, abandoned infrastructure projects, and the rising cost of overseas education.

Electricity Burden on Universities

Nigerian universities face heavy financial strain due to escalating electricity costs, often far exceeding their allocated overheads. According to Echono, while some institutions receive ₦200 million to ₦300 million for yearly expenses, monthly electricity costs sometimes surpass these amounts. He mentioned TETFund’s efforts to alleviate these costs through alternative energy projects. Five universities, including those in Maiduguri, Calabar, Abeokuta, and Abuja, are expected to benefit from these projects by the end of the year, thanks to support from the African Development Bank.

Ongoing Abandoned Projects

Abandoned TETFund projects are prevalent across educational institutions due to several factors, including project mismanagement, inadequate funding, and community interference. To address these issues, TETFund has created a dedicated funding line to ensure phased completion of these projects, prioritizing them over new initiatives.

Revised Approach to Capacity Building

Echono also emphasized a shift in TETFund’s approach to capacity building. With the high cost of training abroad, TETFund is focusing on local training programs to minimize expenses and maximize impact. He revealed that training a single student abroad costs up to ₦110 million, leading TETFund to reassess its overseas sponsorship model. “The cost of sending someone abroad for training could educate over 15 individuals locally,” Echono explained, adding that almost 50% of students trained abroad opt not to return to Nigeria.

TERAS Program Launch

In a significant step toward digitalization, TETFund has launched the TERAS platform to support hybrid learning. Designed to address overcrowding and resource limitations in universities, TERAS enables lecturers to provide lectures online, making them accessible to a broader audience. According to Echono, TERAS has already enrolled approximately 2.7 million students, with plans to onboard up to five million in the near future.

Through these reforms, TETFund aims to tackle the longstanding issues facing Nigeria’s tertiary institutions and enhance educational standards nationwide.