By Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The joy of some young Nigerians who won the overseas scholarship scheme of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) some years ago knew no bounds when they left the shores of Nigeria for their postgraduate studies in different countries.
But the harsh economic realities in Nigeria have taken a toll on their joy. One of the schools where the postgraduate scholars are currently stranded is Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in the bustling city of Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
In the university, a group of Nigerian students have also found themselves in a desperate situation. For those of them on doctorate degree programmes, they had it smooth with TETfund at the beginning. Their tuition fees were paid for four semesters and there have been shortfalls since then. The remaining two semesters have become a source of concern. The sponsor -TETfund has not paid the tuition fees.
Those of them on their doctorate degree were to spend six semesters. The remaining two semesters have become a source of concern. The sponsor -TETfund has not paid the tuition fees. They are facing the grim prospect of having their studies terminated due to unpaid tuition fees.
The challenge of ensuring that TETfund pays the shortfall of the school fees, so that the studentship of the affected candidates would not be terminated, has been taken up by the leadership of International Students’ Society of Nigeria (ISSN), UTM, Malaysia Chapter
The ISSN President, Olayiwola Alfa Abdullahi, a Ph.D. student of Information Systems at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) is one of the many affected students caught in the web.
“My faculty also sent an email that if I don’t pay my fees and register, I may lose my studentship. Similar emails were sent to others that they could terminate our studies if we don’t pay,” Abdullahi told Daily Sun.
Alongside Abdullahi, the struggle involves notable leaders such as Kamal Mahmud Muhammad, the General Secretary; and Aliyu Ishaq, the Treasurer and Public Relations Officer of the society.
In a desperate bid to find a resolution, the students have written letters of appeal to various Nigerian authorities. While some have responded, others have remained silent, leaving the scholars in a state of limbo.
“We wrote letters of appeal to various Nigerian authorities. We got responses from some, and some did not even respond,” Abdullahi explained.
One of such letters, dated May 23, 2023, was addressed to Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM).
The letter, signed by Abdullahi, pleaded for the commission’s assistance in persuading TETfund to pay the outstanding school fees and prevent the students from being stranded or unable to graduate on time.
Dabiri-Erewa responded swiftly, asking Abdullahi if he had an idea of the total amount owed. The following day, Abdullahi informed the NIDCOM CEO that the precise total was not known, as they had only been able to capture the details of those who submitted their information on time.
Recognising the gravity of the situation, Dabiri-Erewa provided her phone number to Abdullahi and requested that he send her a text message the following afternoon for additional information. True to her word, Dabiri-Erewa later told the students that a letter had been sent to TETfund, urging them to follow up on the matter.
In another letter, Abdullahi appealed directly to the Academic Staff Training and Development unit of TETfund, highlighting the shortfall in tuition fees and the impending threat of termination of studies.
He added that the shortage of RM16,550.52 was equivalent of $3,310 in the payment of their school fees, saying: “I am now in my final stage of submitting my thesis. But I received another email from the faculty for termination of studies if we don’t register due to the debt in our school portal.”
Abdullahi further explained that he had exhausted his personal resources, including a bailout, upkeep, and a loan from his home institution’s cooperative society, to pay for his fifth semester. He pleaded with TETfund to intervene and prevent the termination of his, and his fellow students’ studies at this critical juncture.
In May 2024, the society took their plea to the political arena, writing a letter to the Deputy Chairman on Basic Education Services of the House of Representatives in Nigeria, Hon. Muktar Tolani Shagaya, seeking his intervention.
The letter expressed the students’ profound gratitude for TETfund’s support, while also drawing attention to the dire consequences of the outstanding school fees.
“Without the settlement of our outstanding school fees, we face the grim prospect of being unable to continue our studies, which may result in the termination of our visas and subsequent deportation from Malaysia,” the letter read.
The students urged Shagaya to intervene with TETfund, imploring the fund to expedite the payment of the outstanding fees and enable them to complete their academic programmes.
As the situation grew direr, the students sent a reminder to Dabiri-Erewa on June 20, 2023, reiterating their plea for assistance.
On October 2, 2023, the students took their case directly to the Executive Secretary of TETfund, appealing for the immediate payment of the incomplete tuition fees. The letter stated that some students had already been barred from registration, threatening the continuation of their studies.
“This is to prevent the termination of our studentship. At the moment, some of us have been barred from registration and therefore will not be able to continue with our studies until either our school fees are completely paid or there is a letter or an e-mail from Tetfund assuring the school bursar that our study fees will be completed,” the letter read.
The students pleaded with the Tetfund Executive Secretary to intervene and prevent the “heart attack and psychological trauma” that could result from their deportation from Malaysia.
In July 2024, the President of the ISSN UTM Malaysia Chapter, Olayiwola Alfa Abdullahi, made a heartfelt appeal to Saturday Sun, urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take immediate action to address the plight of the affected students.
“We, the affected students, have written collectively and individually to both TETFund and our home institutions, but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. We are now appealing to Mr. President, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to intervene and rescue our academic dreams,” Abdullahi said.
It was gathered that the affected students would have carried placards and staged peaceful protests on the streets of Malaysia, but the International Students’ Society of Nigeria (ISSN), UTM, Malaysia Chapter, prevented them from doing so in order to save the country’s image.
Apart from their academic pursuits, the scholars have also been actively promoting Nigerian culture and have won awards for their academic, cultural, and religious contributions in the host country.
Abdullahi emphasised the students’ commitment to their studies and their desire to contribute to the development of Nigeria, stating, “We urge the President to take immediate action to address this issue and ensure that TETFund fulfills its obligations to us.”
Meanwhile, in response to the students’ plight, TETfund acknowledged the issue and disclosed that the matter is being addressed by the Federal Ministry of Education.
A senior official of TETfund confirmed that the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, has taken over the matter and requested detailed information and actions from the fund to resolve the issue.
The official stated: “We received the complaint from the affected scholars and we are working to fix the challenge. The minister has requested the details from TETFund, and that has been provided. He is yet to take action on that, and it will not be good for TETFund to start speaking on that matter when the minister is yet to take the necessary action.”
The TETFund Executive Secretary, Sonny Echono, had previously disclosed in May that the fund had spent N3.8billion to bailout 1,500 Nigerian scholars who had been abroad since 2017 and had sought the federal government’s intervention.
Meanwhile, the affected students in UTM, Malaysia, have expressed their disappointment with the implementation of the bailout, stating that approximately 45 per cent of the TETFund-sponsored foreign scholars were unjustly omitted from the disbursement.
One of the letters written by the scholars also read in part: “Currently, most omitted scholars are either in debt or battling with depression, due to the harsh financial situations caused by their omission from the presidential approved bailout.”
The students have emphasised that the criteria used to segregate scholars, based on programme status, is unjust and does not account for the overwhelming financial challenges faced by all scholars due to the COVID-19 pandemic, naira devaluation, and post-pandemic inflation.
When contacted, the Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocol Unit of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) Abdul-Rahman Balogun, told Saturday Sun that “some of the scholars have been paid, and some of them have not been paid.
“It is not really our issue in NIDCOM. Our own is just an intervention. So, we intervened. We engaged with the TETFund and they explained the difficulties they are having.
“The exchange rates messed up all the transactions. As at the time those people were given scholarships, the exchange rate was N150 to US$1.
“Then, the exchange rate went up to N450 to US$1. As we speak , it is almost N1,500 to US$1. This is the explanation by TETfund.
“Nevertheless, on Saturday July 6, 2024, we had a zoom meeting with all the students, not only in Malaysia, but all over the world. This issue took almost 95 per cent of our discourse. A lot of them said they were stranded and said other things as well.
“We also got in touch with the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Students’ Engagement, Hon. Asefon Dayo Sunday, who has done a lot on this matter, with the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, and TETfund. Of course, there is renewed hope on the payment of the money.”
As the affected students in UTM, Malaysia and other universities across the world, continue to grapple with the crisis, their hopes rest on the swift intervention of President Bola Tinubu and the decisive action of the Federal Ministry of Education to resolve the pressing issue.