The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said that the Students Loan Act recently signed by President Bola Tinubu is unsustainable and impracticable.
ASUU’s National President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke stated this during an appearance on the Sunday Politics program on Channels Television.
Osodeke said that more than 90% of students won’t meet the “stringent requirements” to access and repay the loan.
“This would be better if we are giving it to those set of students who are very poor, it should be called a grant, not a loan,” he added.
“It should be called a grant since it is coming from the Federation Account and not that (after) these people have access to it and when they are graduating, they have heavy loads behind them and within two years, if they don’t pay, they go to jail.
“That’s why we’re talking about collective bargaining, you have views from all the sides.”
“The idea of student loan came in 1972 and it was in a bank established. People who took loans never paid, you can go and investigate. In 1994, and 1993, the military enacted Decree 50 also set up a Students’ Loan Board. The National Assembly domesticated it in 2004 and within a year, it went off. The money disappeared. We want to see how this one will be different.”
“We, as a union also did research of countries all over the world, of people who have benefited from this loan, they were committing suicide. Recently, (President Joe) Biden is trying to pay back the bank loans of some who borrowed in the US.
“It is better to look for alternative means of funding education than to encumber students whose parents earn N30,000 a month with a loan.”
Recall that Tinubu last week Monday signed the 2023 Student Loan Act into law.
The bill titled ‘A Bill for an Act to provide for easy access to higher education for Nigerians through an interest-free loan from the Nigerian Education Bank established in this Act to provide education for Nigerians and other purposes connected thereto,’ seeks to “provide easy access to higher education for Nigerians through students’ loan with a view of providing education for all Nigerians,” according to the explanatory note.
To be eligible for the loan, applicant’s income or family income must be less than N500,000 (five hundred thousand) per year.
Also, applicants must provide at least 2 guarantors, who must be civil servant above Level 12 or Lawyer with at least 10 years post-call experience; or a Judicial officers or a Justices of the Peace.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
