The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, said on Monday that an urgent solution must be found to the “over N1.5tr” spent by Nigerians in search of education overseas yearly.
The speaker admitted that this was an indication that the country’s education sector required immediate overhauling by the Federal Government, the National Assembly and other stakeholders.
Dogara spoke in Abuja at the opening of a public hearing on three bills and three motions by the House Committee on Tertiary Education.
One of the bills, which generated interest at the session, was a “Bill for an Act to Amend the TETFUND ACT 2011.”
The speaker was represented by the Chief Whip of the House, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, while the committee was chaired by Mr. Aminu Suleiman.
Dogara noted, “The alarming report that Nigerians spend over five hundred million Naira annually on their children studying in the United State of America and the United Kingdom calls for concern from every Nigerian.
“The House of Representatives is equally worried that over N1.5tr, which is nearly half of the total Federal Government Appropriations in 2015, is spent on Nigerians studying abroad.
“There is no better time for all hands to be on the deck to overhaul our educational sector than now, so that this sector can be turned into a source of foreign exchange as is the case with other countries.
“The House is determined to pursue this goal to fruition in fulfillment of its prescriptions in the Legislative Agenda to make concerted efforts in bringing about the desired change in the sector.”
At the hearing, the management of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund kicked against any plans to include federal colleges of education as beneficiaries of the Fund.
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