Gom Mirian
The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Emmanuel Osodeke, has urged President Bola Tinubu to convert the N50 billion allocated for the student loan scheme into grants.
Osodeke, while appearing on Channels Television’s Hard Copy on Friday, explained that borrowing funds to pay for education is unreasonable in a country where employment is not guaranteed after graduation.
The Student Loan Bill was signed into law on June 12 by President Tinubu to provide interest-free loans to indigent Nigerians. He announced in October that the scheme would commence in January 2024, with funding of N50 billion provided in the 2024 budget.
However, the ASUU President has spoken against the loans, saying the funds would be better utilised as grants that would be invested in the education of Nigerian students.
According to him, a student loan scheme may lead to graduates committing crimes to raise money if they are unable to repay their loans after graduation.
Osodeke said: “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 as a loan that becomes a liability for them before they even graduate and are 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.”
Osodeke also queried the viability of the scheme, saying two previous attempts to introduce a student loan scheme had failed. He noted that the conditions attached to the loan are economically disadvantageous for students in rural areas.
