By Felix Khanoba
The Tertiary Execution Trust Fund (TETFund) says it will soon sanction some universities and other higher education institutions in the country for the rot in contracts execution in the affected schools.
Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, who made this known at media parley with journalists in Abuja on Thursday, said the Fund will roll out punitive measures including outright stoppage of intervention activities in such affected institutions.
While saying that a financial and forensic audit has been carried out that pinpointed the anomaly, Bogoro said the observed infractions informed the reason for constituting an audit committee to take stock of the intervention activities of the fund for two decades.
Speaking on the Fund’s overseas scholarship programme, the TETFund boss revealed that over N7.2 billion was recently expended by the agency to defray tuitions and other expenses of over 1,000 postgraduate students on its scholarship roll in foreign institutions.
He said that one of the challenges faced by TETFund scholars abroad was the policy of allowing only three years period for PhD programmes as contained in the scholarship agreements.
While explaining that it was difficult to complete PhD programme in three years in some countries, he disclosed that after approaching the Board of Trustees of TETFund, it approved that the duration of PhD scholarships be scaled up to four years.
Bogoro, however, described as an embarrassing the level of malpractice in conferences attendance among lecturers, lamenting that it was sadly the practice of some to receive monies and send proxies to sign attendance at conferences for them abroad.
He said a very strong case of malpractice has been made in that regard and now that he is informed, action would be taken.
