• Hausa Edition
  • Podcast
  • Conferences
  • LeVogue Magazine
  • Business News
  • Print Advert Rates
  • Online Advert Rates
  • Contact Us
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Leadership Newspapers
Read in Hausa
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Leadership Newspapers
No Result
View All Result

Ban On Foreign Training For Lecturers

by Leadership News
6 months ago
in Editorial
Share on WhatsAppShare on FacebookShare on XTelegram

The federal government has just announced that it is cancelling foreign training programmes for Nigerian scholars. The minister of education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this at a conference organised by the British Council in Abuja. He added that henceforth, university lecturers will be trained locally.

Advertisement

The minister explained the basis for this decision: “We have just decided to cancel foreign training for scholars. The money we are spending to train one scholar abroad could be used to train 20 people here. We will be training everybody here.

Similarly, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has also announced the suspension of the foreign component of TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS) Intervention, effective January 1, 2025.

It said the suspension is in response to the cost of training in foreign institutions and the high rate of abscondment among foreign scholars. As a newspaper, the reasons cited for the action seem germane and plausible.

Since the federal government adopted the twin policy of fuel subsidy removal and naira devaluation, every sector of national life has been adversely affected. Under the present financial circumstances, sourcing foreign currencies to pay for scholars abroad is quite expensive.

RELATED

NSF 2024: Kalu, Invited Athletes’ Amarachi Excel In Weightlifting

A National Sports Festival, A National Mourning

18 hours ago
Eid al-Adha: A Lesson In Service And Sacrifice

Eid al-Adha: A Lesson In Service And Sacrifice

2 days ago

Expectedly, the pronouncement has since sparked intense debate. As noted earlier, on the surface, the policy appears to have some merits: saving funds and providing more infrastructure. However, a section of public opinion aver that the government did not need to ban foreign training to save funds and provide university infrastructure. According to that shade of opinion, getting priorities right and having prudent resource management should be the focus.

We believe that the blanket cancellation of foreign training programmes may deprive Nigerian scholars of opportunities to acquire specialised skills and knowledge that are not locally available. This could ultimately hinder the country’s development in critical areas, especially in science, information technology and engineering.

Discontinuing foreign training for scholars will not help the Nigerian cause, especially as the universities lack the basic infrastructure to match the international exposure such training provides.
The minister’s promise of aggressively providing infrastructure in the universities to scale up learning and exposure for the lecturers cannot be attained overnight.

We believe the government means well, but we are against the process and the haste with which it is being pursued. Beginning the implementation in January 2025 is hasty, in our view.
To address these fears, we recommend that the government review the policy and exempt courses where Nigeria has a deficit from the ban.

Instead of cancelling foreign training programmes altogether, the government can reduce the number of beneficiaries and introduce stringent measures to curb the observed breaches
Such measures include adopting merit-based selection, where only the most qualified scholars are selected for foreign training programmes.
If not already in place, the government can also introduce a bonding system so that the beneficiaries can sign a bond to return to Nigeria after their training. The bond should clearly spell out the punishment for violation, with the involvement of the government of the country of study.

The federal government should also establish or strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of scholars’ performance during and after their training.

We also urge the authorities to explore virtual training programmes that will allow scholars to access specialised knowledge and skills without needing to travel physically.

We are afraid that the government’s plan to use the resources saved from the ban to fund domestic training programmes may not be realised, given the system’s pervasive corruption. There is the risk that corrupt officials could divert, steal, or mismanage these funds.

It is important to point out that scholars’ training abroad is not a significant drain on public funds. The bureaucracy is. Instead of streamlining operations and structures, the government is creating more irrelevant offices and making curious appointments for political jobbers and hangers-on in the corridors of power.

Foreign tours for all manner of government officials are still common. The presidential directive restricting foreign tours is not obeyed because the leadership has not shown good example. These are the actual drains on national resources.

If the government implements this policy, the country’s lecturers may have limited opportunities to acquire specialised skills and knowledge that are unavailable in Nigeria. This could also lead to a brain drain, as scholars may seek alternative opportunities abroad.

There is an age-old aphorism that the university system anywhere is an international community where members interact and cross-fertilise ideas that ultimately enrich teaching and research. This policy may hurt it.

Similarly, we are concerned that if the ban is implemented, it can potentially worsen the quality of education and research in Nigerian institutions and limit collaboration and exchange programmes with international institutions.

Even worse, it will likely limit the chances of products of Nigerian universities who aspire to pursue graduate programmes abroad.


We’ve got the edge. Get real-time reports, breaking scoops, and exclusive angles delivered straight to your phone. Don’t settle for stale news. Join LEADERSHIP NEWS on WhatsApp for 24/7 updates →

Join Our WhatsApp Channel

START EARNING US DOLLARS as a Nigerian ($35,000) monthly. Companies are sacking their workers due to AI (artificial intelligence), business owners are in panic mode. Only the smart will make it. Click here


Tags: British Council NigeriaDr. Tunji AlausaTertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund)
SendShareTweetShare
Previous Post

Seven Tips On Food That Should Never Be Prepared With Milk

Next Post

ICPC To Prosecute Contractor For $65m Money Laundering

Leadership News

Leadership News

You May Like

NSF 2024: Kalu, Invited Athletes’ Amarachi Excel In Weightlifting
Editorial

A National Sports Festival, A National Mourning

2025/06/07
Eid al-Adha: A Lesson In Service And Sacrifice
Editorial

Eid al-Adha: A Lesson In Service And Sacrifice

2025/06/06
Don’t Kill The Fun
Editorial

Improving Voter Turnout In Future Elections

2025/06/05
Nigeria And Fragmented ECOWAS
Editorial

ECOWAS At 50: Resetting West Africa’s Growth Agenda

2025/06/04
Flood: We Lost 200 Lives, 1000  Still Missing – Niger Govt
Editorial

Niger Floods: Between Preparedness And Disaster

2025/06/03
NASS
Editorial

The National Assembly Nigerians Want

2025/06/02
Leadership Conference advertisement

LATEST

Expert Calls For Urgent Action On Neonatal Jaundice In Nigeria

Fuel Subsidy Removal Saved Nigeria From Bankruptcy – NOA

Netizens React To Nigerian Prophet’s ‘Healing’ Of Dumb, Paralysed Man After 36 Years In US

Gov Zulum Donates N100m To Wounded Soldiers, Families Of Slain Troops

LP Mourns Late CJN Uwais, Seeks Implementation Of Report On Electoral Reforms

Tennis: Gauff Beats Sabalenka To Win French Open Title

‘I Never Begged Wike For Money’, TV Anchor Reuben Abati Refutes FCT Minister’s Aide’s Claims

Singer Darey Art Alade, Wife Escape Unhurt After Their Car Catches Fire On 3rd Mainland Bridge

Civil War Was For Unity, Not Hatred — Gowon

Nnamdi Kanu Is Prisoner Of Conscience — IPOB

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.