FG assures students unhindered access to education loan scheme

THE Federal Government has reassured Nigerians that no indigent  will be denied the student loan scheme billed to be commence soon.

This assurance is coming in the wake of opposition by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to the student loan scheme.

The president of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke had said the loan scheme would place unnecessary burden on the students after graduation.

However, the students got reassurance of the good intention of the government when a delegation of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), led by its president, Comrade Lucky Emonefe, paid a courtesy visit on the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, in Abuja.

Osodeke had cited the burden of paying back the loan in a country where jobs are not guaranteed after graduation as the reason for the union’s position.

President Bola Tinubu signed the student loan Bill into law on June 12, 2023. The law is to provide easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.

Tinubu in October announced that the scheme would commence in January 2024, with the Federal Government voting N50bn for the programme in the 2024 budget.

However, the ASUU president suggested that allocating the N50 billion as grants would have had more impact and be a humane investment in the education of Nigerian students.

“If the issue is just N50 billion, why can’t we convert that N50 billion as a country like Nigeria to grants for the children of the very poor?

“Let’s give to those who cannot afford it, not give them a loan that becomes a liability for them before they even graduate and not sure of getting a job.

“We are thinking of the Nigerian people, those who cannot afford it, those children who are in the villages whose parents earn less than N30,000 a month,” he said.

Nigerian Tribune, however, gathered that Hon. Gbajabiamila called on Nigerian students to speak up against voices condemning the Students’ Loan Funds policies, saying the scheme was to ensure that no student, irrespective of their birth circumstances, was deprived of quality education  in Nigeria.

He further assured the students that the government was ready to avert any looming industrial action by members of ASUU, explaining that the government was currently addressing issues that concerned the union.

He added that President Tinubu, had through several directives, declared an end to the strike by the academic unions in universities and higher institutions.

According to him, “there may be another ASUU strike, and we are trying to address that, we are looking at issues that concern ASUU, the impending strike and I believe we should be able to avert that as you have said earlier.

The Chief of Staff affirmed the determination of President Tinubu towards the successful take-off of the scheme, adding that the programme would be launched within the next few weeks.

According to him, “Mr President is determined that we see it through and successfully too. It was supposed to be launched in January but it is anything worth doing is worth doing well.

“We are hoping it will be launched in the next two to three weeks, we are trying to dot the i(s) and cross the t(s) before it is launched to ensure we have policies that cannot be faulted.”

He added that the student loan scheme, when successfully launched, will become part of the legacies of the present administration.

Hon. Gbajabiamila solicited the support of Nigerians to ensure that no indigent student, who was genuinely in need of the loan, was left behind.

“Now we are going to need you in the success of this policy because, generally, it is a well-received policy but there may be one or two segments of the society for the reason some people in some quarters may be kicking against it, this policy is for the Nigerian students, it is to make sure that no student is left behind when it comes to education.

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“It is to make sure people are not deprived of their education just because of circumstances of their birth that itself is unconstitutional. “Now that the child of indigent should not be deprived of what should be a right, not to make education a privilege but a right.

“So when voices speak up against it we expect you to rise for its support, this is something that you all support, embrace and work towards its success”, he said.

The Chief of Staff also applauded youth representation on the Federal Executive Council, saying the Government was working on the establishment of a Youth Advisory Council that would advise the President on youth matters and other injunctions towards youth development.

“You have among you two comrades standing in for you in the cabinet, We are muling the idea that has not come to fruition yet I hope it will come to fruition, we are working assiduously on the Youth Advisory council that will sit from time to time and advise the President on youth matters and other matters that are geared towards youth development. We are hopeful that it will come to fruition soon.” He concluded.

Earlier in his address, the NAN President,  Comrade Lucky Emonefe, commended President Tinubu for the up-scale of the Education budget, students’ loan scheme and other giant strides and achievements in the education sector, especially the tertiary education sub-sector.

He called on the Federal Government to put extra efforts to avert the strike actions intended by the ASUU by addressing their demands as well as those of other university-based unions.