Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has lamented that many students it sent abroad for studies have absconded.
The Executive secretary of the Fund, Sonny Echono stated on Tuesday and put the number of absconded beneficiaries at over 137.
He spoke when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc committee investigating the alleged mismanagement of N2.3tn tertiary education tax by TETFund.
He stressed that the scholars who were sponsored by TETFund for “higher education” abroad refuse to return to the country after completing their programmes.
The Executive Secretary said, “Some of the scholars that have been sponsored, unpatriotically when they go, they enjoy our scholarship, acquire a higher degree, then refuse to come back, it has become a major crisis.
“The scholarship requires that you will come back. It is required that you have a guarantor and in many cases, the guarantor has suffered undue hardship because when you disappear, we hold the guarantor to pay all the money expended on your behalf but that has not been effective.”
Echono said TETFund is working with stakeholders for “stringent and effective measures” to be taken against those who refuse to return to the country for Nigerians to benefit from their expertise.
“We believe that in a system where we work with our embassies and the institutions, we can enforce the repayment for those who insist they will not come back,” he said.
He also denied the allegations that TETFund mismanaged the N2.3tn fund.
Meanwhile, Oluwole Oke, chairman of the committee, said the probe is not to witch-hunt, adding that the lawmakers are out to stop the misuse of public funds