A professor of Political Science & International Relations, at Nasarawa State University, Jideofor Adibe has asserted that the student loan bill which was signed by President Bola Tinubu is not a feasible venture.

“Part of the agenda (10^th Legislative Agenda) could be to have a second look at that student loan scheme because it is not implementable,” Adibe said on Tuesday while featuring as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily,

On June 12, President Bola Tinubu signed into law the Student Loan Bill in fulfilment of his campaign goals. The funds are set to be domiciled in the Ministry of Education and will only be accessed by indigent students of tertiary institutions.

However, Professor Adibe was of the opinion that there is no benefit in the student loan scheme that was signed by President Tinubu., indicating the bill was proposed by the previous National Assembly without serious examination, which is why it Is not implementable.

“It started in 2021, and it doesn’t seem like there was robust thinking that went into it when the president signed it,” he said.

He went further to express the possibility that the bill was signed as a preparation ground to hike up tuition fees for higher institutions.

“The government talked about education loan as a preparatory ground probably for hiking of school fees,” he claimed.

Adibe defended his position by claiming that the eligibility conditions may be out of reach for many homes in the country.

“For example, it says for you to qualify, your household would not be earning more than N500,000 per annum.

“If your household, you decide it is just a man and a wife, it means that you are not supposed to earn more than 41,000 per month, that is 20-something thousand. At the same time, that requires that before you qualify, you bring your tax clearance certificate,” Adibe added.

He also lamented that the guarantee procedure is not feasible due to the meagre earnings of people who will need to access the student loan.

“The truth is that at that threshold you are tax exempt and then you are supposed to get somebody who is a lawyer or somebody who has property to guarantee.

“Who will guarantee such a person earning that small amount of money? Adibe asked. “Nobody can access it. If you really want to talk about the loan scheme, you can put it in perspective as part of the agenda because it has just been signed.

“The president just assented to it, you just say to review and we will know it is targeted at a particular thing because the whole idea of education is too broad,” he said.

Despite his scepticism, he urged that the 10^th National Assembly reconsider the bill in order to improve service delivery. (Channels TV)

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