The Minister of Education, Mr. Tunji Alausa, has expressed serious concern over the growing trend of Nigerian students sent abroad on government scholarships failing to return to contribute to national development
Speaking on Friday during a one-day meeting with heads of institutions, bursars, and procurement officers in Lagos, Alausa revealed that 85 percent of these students do not come back after their studies. “Our evidence-based analysis showed that 85 percent of Nigerian students sent abroad on government scholarships never returned to contribute to national development. Many of the programmes they studied could have been handled effectively within our own institutions,” he stated.
As part of a policy shift, Alausa announced that more funding will now be directed toward developing local capacity. To support this, he disclosed that 28 Centres of Excellence have been established in public and private institutions to boost postgraduate education, research, and job creation.
In addition, the minister announced a major change to the funding criteria for the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). Moving forward, tertiary institutions with fewer than 2,000 students after five years of operation will no longer be eligible for TETFund support. He cited inefficiencies in the current model, where schools with as few as 350 students receive the same funding as institutions with tens of thousands.
“This is inefficient and unsustainable. We are re-evaluating how institutions benefit from TETFund. We can no longer incentivise poor performance or underutilisation,” Alausa said.
He also raised alarms over the unchecked proliferation of satellite campuses, calling them “unsustainable and counterproductive.”
The engagement, aimed at reviewing the 2024/2025 intervention guidelines, is part of a broader effort to ensure transparency and better governance in higher education. Alausa emphasized that under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive, the focus is now on getting maximum value from every naira spent in the education sector.
Supporting the minister’s stance, Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, announced that the agency is transitioning to a more sustainable, performance-based funding model. He stressed the need for institutions to move away from total reliance on government support and instead seek partnerships with the private sector for projects like hostel development and innovation hubs.
“Institutional expansion must be checked, and we must avoid unnecessary duplication of mandates,” Echono warned. He added that institutions failing to access, use, or retire funds appropriately—or falling short of academic and enrolment standards—could be removed from the list of TETFund beneficiaries.
“This policy is not meant to punish but to safeguard the credibility and impact of TETFund interventions,” Echono noted. “We want to ensure that the Fund’s resources are directed toward institutions committed to high standards of governance, transparency and accountability.”
He concluded by urging deeper reforms across the tertiary education sector, saying, “This engagement is a call to action. It is a platform to learn, reflect and commit to best practices in governance, project management and compliance.”
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