Scholarship Boards Should Be Scrapped-Jega

Erstwhile chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega has voiced his disdain for the states and federal scholarship boards suggesting that they should be scrapped by the government.


Jega made the suggestion on Saturday,January 16 while making a presentation at the maiden convocation lecture of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa state.

 The suggestion was a part of the paper with the theme “Reforming the Nigerian tertiary education sector: challenges and prospects.

“The scholarship system must be reviewed and reorganised by disbursing scholarships through the institutions, rather than ineffective and corrupt boards.
“The federal and state governments should identify their beneficiaries and pay directly to their schools, and that should be done by merit,’’ NAN reports.

Jega, who now lectures at  the department of political science, Bayero University,Kano state also advised the government to introduce a well-funded student’s scheme for indigent students that were qualified to go to tertiary institutions but could not afford it.

Prof Jega noted that these were important innovative measures used by most countries to expand access to education which can be emulated by the Nigerian government.

He further called on the federal government to increase profit tax of companies allocated to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, from two to five percent.

He however praised the fund for serving Nigeria well in terms of provision of infrastructures in institutions, as well as aiding the conduct of research.