The Federal Ministry of Education has defended the increment of school fees in government-owned universities, saying the development was to cover the high cost of facilities by the institutions.

This is just as the House of Representatives proposed an increase of three per cent as against an initial one per cent for students loan from revenue generated annually as announced by President Bola Tinubu.

Permanent Secretary of the ministry, David Adejo, during a meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Students Loans, on Tuesday, explained that what was reported as increase in tuition fees was simply an increase in charges by schools.

He was reacting to rumours that the signing of the Students Loan Act had prompted several federal universities to increase their charges.

Stating that no federal university in the country was allowed to collect tuition fees from students, Adejo said that the charges collected by the institutions are used by them to pay for some of their services, including electricity bills, accommodation, among others.

He said: “What they collect is charges to cover the cost of accommodation, ICT, and power, among others. It is the Governing Councils of the Universities that have the power to approve such charges for them.

“The only university that increased charges after the signing of the student loans act is the University of Lagos. They came to the Ministry with a proposal to Increase their charges because all Governing Councils were dissolved and we gave them approval.

“Immediately that was done, there was a resolution from the House stopping the increase of fees and the president also gave a directive stopping any increase in fees and that is where it is, even though several others have brought their proposal,” he added.

He also announced that the implementation of the Students Loans scheme is scheduled to commence during the 2023/2024 academic session.

He emphasized that the president has directed the completion of necessary work on the modalities for the students’ loan implementation, with a target start date in September 2023.

Adejo further stated that the president has established a coordinating committee, with the Chief of Staff serving as the chairman, adding that the committee comprises key entities such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Budget Office, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, and others.

He noted that the committee has additionally established a technical team tasked with establishing a solid framework for initiating the program and addressing any legal obstacles that could hinder Nigerians’ access to the loan

He added that in spite of the charges by institutions, the universities have not been able to meet up with some of their expenses.

He said, “For example, we had to bail out Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria with about N1 billion to pay its electricity bill. The school just resumes academic sessions because they were in darkness. They were supposed to build theatres and we told them, you cannot build theatre when you are in the dark because you need power to operate.”

The director of Legal Services of the Central Bank of Nigeria who represented the Acting Governor of the Central Bank, Kofo Salami Alada said the student loan was being designed to be technology driven.

He said it was being designed in such a way that will eliminate physical contact and movement of papers, while the students will be expected to apply for the loan from the comfort of their homes.

He said they will work with the various tertiary institutions that will be assigned unique codes, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board and other bodies involved in tertiary education in the country to make the process much easier.

He said the CBN will not be responsible for the funding of the exercise, adding that its responsibility will be the bankers to the fund as the funds will be provided solely by the government.

Alada, however, said that the technical committee was working on how to avoid a constitutional crisis later when states will go to court to challenge funds being drawn from the federation account to implement the scheme

According to him, while the current law provides for one per cent of internally generated revenue, they are working on having an acceptable source either from the Federations Account or from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

He said since all government activities run on a budget, the National Assembly may have to put in place a budget for the takeoff of the scheme.

Alada said the technical design for accessing the loan has been completed, adding that vendors are being invited to commence work on the design.

The chairman of the committee, Teseer Ugbor, said the students’ loan was part of the palliatives by the federal government to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians and ensure access to higher education by interested Nigerians.

He, however, expressed concern about the disbursement process, the recovery of the funds from beneficiaries as well as the possibility of some students not being able to access the loan. (The Guardian)

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