By Ali Leeman Haidar
The Executive Secretary of Education Trust Fund, Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro, has denied accusing former President Goodluck Jonathan for illegally withdrawing the Fund’s N359B, as wrongly or mischievously reported in a syndicated story by some national dailies.
The TETFund’s Boss who reacted to the misleading story in an exclusive interview with select few media organisations in his Office yesterday (6/3/2020), said he did not and could not have made such unwarranted and spurious allegations against the former President.
Professor Bogoro who described the syndicated story as unfair, said what he said in reaction to a question raised by a Member of House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education and Services during an oversight visit to TETFund’s office recently on monies borrowed from the agency by Government, was, “the immediate past government borrowed N263.99b from the Education Trust Pool Account at the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2013” for the purpose of execution of other projects, after fulfilling conditions required for taking such a loan.
He however revealed that about N10b, out of the amount borrowed by the past government had since been repaid.
Professor Bogoro further clarified that the present government also borrowed N58b and N40b in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
All these monies, he reiterated, were borrowed by both the past and present governments to execute non TETFund projects with undertaking to pay back.
He however set the record straight by categorically stating that to say the monies in question were stolen or missing is unfair and misrepresentation of facts.
Professor Bogoro therefore called on Journalists to live up to their responsibility of cross checking any information before writing to avoid misrepresentation or reporting unsubstantiated and injurious stories, an act he described as wrong and against global best practice of ethical journalism.