The recent monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which allowed market forces to determine the price of forex has sparked a hike in Dollars rate with Naira floating between N900 and N1000 to 1USD in the parallel market. In this interview with SUNNY IDACHABA, Abdullahi Tanko Mohammed, the committee chairman of TETFund Scholars in Malaysia reveals how this policy is affecting Nigerian students abroad.
How can you compare studying in Malaysia and Nigeria?
The difference is clear. In Malaysia, there are adequate facilities and infrastructures to support serious research. There are good state-of-the-art modern and well-equipped laboratories, studios and workshops, strong internet services to support research activities, constant electric power and water supply and accessibility of high-impact journals from (Web of Science, Scopus etc) subscribed by universities. There are also well-stocked libraries with current textbooks and connected to other libraries across the world with online library services 24/7. There are also, universities/industries collaborations with grants provided by industries to fund high-impact research, a good research environment, manageable student size, good remunerations for professors and other workers and maintenance of a level of disciplinary culture. This is why staff are well dedicated to duty and respond to students’ needs promptly. All these are however lacking in Nigeria thus studying in Nigeria, one suffers from these setbacks, especially at the postgraduate level where students battle with all manner of problems to complete their studies including a very harsh learning environment.
Recently, you wrote to the Federal ministry of Education and TETFund for urgent bailout. What were your challenges?
Let me start by saying that one of the best policies on education by the federal government of Nigeria is the establishment of TETFund in 2011. This is good because it has saved our tertiary institutions from imminent collapse otherwise some universities, polytechnic and Colleges of Education would have remained glorified secondary schools. Apart from physical facilities, TETFund’s intervention covers academic staff training accessed locally and internationally, a component of the fund that develops manpower (which is why I am in Malaysia today) and conference attendance (local and foreign). Without mincing words, these interventions have helped to add positively to the level of education in Nigeria.
The academic staff training (foreign training) component of the intervention sponsors academic staff of public tertiary institutions to study in Malaysia, UK, India, S/Africa, China etc., at Masters and Ph.D degrees for programmes where Nigeria is in dire need of manpower. These are termed as programmes of national interest. Excellent as the policy is conceptualised, the programme always suffers setbacks. Some of these are administrative constraints, market forces and global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Let me explain it. TETFund works in collaboration with beneficiary institutions and that is where most of the setbacks and seamless implementation of the programme lie.
Market forces have to do with the vagaries of exchange rates. Scholars have always remained victims of forex fluctuation even before the recent harmonisation and floating of the naira exchange rate in June 2023. Getting forex for Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), maintenance cost and school fees via Form “A” on the CBN Trade Management System platform were difficult to access due to the unavailability of forex resulting in a long waste time. Therefore most scholars continue to rely on parallel market sources for survival. Many scholars are in debt and the majority are on ‘bar statuses’ as they could not register for the semester due to the shortfalls created due to forex fluctuations. Most scholars who were believed to have absconded by TETFund might be stranded and are under serious financial distress, managing to feed and hoping that something would be done to pay their fees and complete their programmes.
The recent monetary policy of CBN that allowed market forces to determine the price of forex sparked a hike in the dollar to the naira with exchange floating between N900 – N1000 per 1$ in the parallel market while the CBN window for tuition fees payment at CBN official rate is now closed. At the point of granting our awards, TETFund used a benchmark of between N325 – N460 per 1$ for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 TETFund Scholars to arrive at our scholarship amount.
These forex fluctuations left a deficit of more than 50 percent of the entire sponsorship grant that was supposed to cover tuition fees, VISA fees, living expenses, etc. Forex even begins to gallop sometimes before receiving the money to commence our programmes. To guard against this forex fluctuation, TETFund initiated a mechanism whereby all beneficiary institutions were advised to open domiciliary accounts to lodge their funds, likewise the scholars. Unfortunately, this was not complied with and even when we supplied our domiciliary accounts. Our institutions preferred to use our naira account. Hence, we are now left to face the brunt and suffer in a strange land. Beyond the exchange rate fluctuation, there was also the problem of economic meltdown occasioned by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Can you tell me more about your challenges resulting from this policy?
We spent a huge amount that was not envisaged by TETFund in considering our awards. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic compounded our problem by exacerbating the adverse effects on scholars’ research activities and study completion timelines from the initial 3 years to 4 – 5 years. Some of these challenges that we faced during the Covid era stemmed from the mandatory quarantine expenses and sundry COVID-19-related costs like the compulsory COVID-19 PCR test both in our study country and Nigeria together with the high cost of flight tickets from that period until now. The implication of all these is that as it stands today, we have scholars who are either stranded because they have exceeded their years of study or on the verge of being stranded and many others going through difficult financial burdens. We’re afraid that if nothing is done urgently to ameliorate our suffering many Tetfund foreign scholars may be forced to abandon their studies.
What do you think is the way out of your problems?
As a matter of fact, we the TETFUND Scholars in Malaysia are pleading for quick intervention of the Hon ministers of education and the management of TETFund for a bailout to provide succour to our scholars and enable us to continue our academic programtomes to a successful completion for the overall benefit of our dear country, Nigeria.
Also, the management of TETFund should study the scholarship template of PTDF with the hope of replicating such a model to solve this reoccurring problem of forex fluctuations.
Has the removal of fuel subsidy affected students on TETFUND Local Scholarship Scheme?
No! Students on TETFund Foreign Scholarship Scheme are not affected by the fuel subsidy removal. Since it is in Malaysia we are studying, that has not affected us directly, only our colleagues in Nigeria. Therefore, if the federal government can come up with special palliatives to support our colleagues studying in Nigeria, I think that would be a good one.
Industrial action is the order of the day in Nigeria compared to other countries. What Advice would you give to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in this aspect?
In Malaysia, the remunerations for professors and other lecturers is very good and so they are always available to attend to the students and never one hears of anything called strike. In Nigeria, poor remuneration for academic staff and agitation for improved working conditions has made Nigeria tertiary educational sector to suffer incessant strikes over the years. I want to advise our dear president His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tunibu to please consider increasing the budgetary allocation to the educational sector so that the incessant impasse between academic staff and government that becomes a perennial crisis can be finally put to rest. Remember sir, education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world, according to Nelson Mandela.
What are your final words on this matter?
We passionately appeal to the government to come to our aide and give us bailout. This would provide succor and help us conclude our studies.
