With four postponements in seven months, the student loan scheme of the Federal Government has morphed into a controversial subject. Many students and parents, who expect a lifeline through the initiative, are more distraught by its lack of coordination. They believe the government should make less propaganda and bureaucracy of pro-poor initiatives, OWEDE AGBAJILEKE reports.

Keni is a 300-level student of the University of Abuja. As the first of a five-child family to gain admission into the university, the Chemical Engineering undergraduate is on the verge of not registering for the current first semester except a miracle happens. This is because her reliance on the federal government’s student loan to pay tuition fees, which the university authorities have increased by 75 per cent, may not see the light of the day.

“When we started the second semester in September last year and with the cheering news that the student loan would commence that same month, my joy knew no bounds,” Keni said.

“I told everyone who cared to listen that the days of struggling to pay tuition fees were over, but that was not to be. My mom had to take yet another loan from her Cooperative Society to enable me to register then. Now, here we are, the (school registration) portal has closed but I am yet to register for the current session,” Keni said.

Keni’s friend at the University of Ibadan, Mustapha Mohammed, shared the same sentiment. The undergraduate of Business Administration expressed dismay over the continuous delay in the launch of the exercise.

According to him, “Amid the current economic downturn and despondency, the student loan gave us and our parents a sigh of relief that something good could come out of this country. But shifting its launch four times is indicative of the lack of seriousness of the federal government. It has yet to put its house in order and this is a sad commentary; an anti-climax,” he said.

Their stories highlight the anguish, distress and misery faced by Nigerian students in 125 public universities awaiting the launch of the Student loan scheme, which has suffered four postponements since its announcement, thereby leaving beneficiaries in limbo. The worst is the astronomical increase in tuition fees amid economic challenges in the country.

Signed into law by President Tinubu on June 12, 2023, the Access to Tertiary Education Act, also known as the Student Loan Act, is expected to provide easy access to higher education for poor students through interest-free loans.

The Act also establishes the Nigerian Education Loan Fund that will be responsible for managing student loans, making rules and guidelines concerning the loan application process, reviewing loan applications, approving and disbursing same, and recovering all loans, among other functions.

The Loan Fund is to be financed through education bonds; one per cent of all taxes, levies, and duties coming to the Federal Government from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Immigration Service and Nigerian Customs Service; one per cent of profits that government makes from oil and other minerals; donations; gifts; grants or any other form of revenue.

With Nigeria raking in N12.7 trillion from taxes and customs in 2022, one per cent is N127 billion. With another N210 billion from N21 trillion earned from the sale of crude oil in 2022, cumulatively, the country’s education loan fund could potentially have N334 billion in the kitty.

Recall that while the National Assembly approved the sum of N10 billion for the take-off of the scheme in the 2023 supplementary budget, it earmarked another N50 billion in the 2024 budget for the implementation of the loan scheme.

Government officials and proponents of the initiative believed that it would help address school dropouts and suicidal tendencies among financially disadvantaged students.

An EdTech firm, PressPayNg, estimated that about 18 per cent of students in Nigerian tertiary institutions drop out of school yearly for financial reasons.

Stakeholders in the education sector have expressed concern over the growing number of students and parents attempting or committing suicide over a hike in tuition fees.

For instance, a final-year student of the University of Abuja, Ada Amazu, reportedly attempted suicide last month over the hike in school fees. The Guardian gathered that the Veterinary Medicine undergraduate became suicidal after she was asked to repeat an academic session for failing to pay her fees, due to a recent increase from N71,000 to N196,000, before the closure of registration.

It was also gathered that her situation was further compounded when she lost her scholarship, following the increase from N36,000 in 100 Level to N196,000 in the final year.

In August 2021, a 200-level student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, reportedly took his life over a hike in school fees. The deceased, a native of the Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State, was a student of Industrial Physics.

A civil society organisation, Education Rights Campaign, believes the onerous payment plan of the loan could subject beneficiaries to depression and suicide.

The National Mobilisation Officer of the Campaign, Adaramoye Michael Lenin, said the repayment plan was meant to subject beneficiaries to “miserable existence”.

He said: “It is a fact that many graduates seldom get any job at all within the first two years after they leave school. Many can still be unemployed five years after the National Youth Service. So, how does the government expect unemployed beneficiaries to begin repayment? Meanwhile, according to the Act, if beneficiaries default on the loan, subsection (6) says they shall be ‘liable on conviction to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of two years or both’.

“This student loan is likely to plunge its beneficiaries into depression, misery and suicide as they have to constantly struggle to pay the loan either while being unemployed or while earning low pay. This is not the kind of bleak future Nigerian youths deserve.”

Also, with four postponements within seven months and the controversy surrounding it, including the stiff opposition from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), it has gained some notoriety as one of the most contentious policies of the present administration.

Although the federal government had through the immediate past Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejo, disclosed that it was working out modalities to kick-start the process between September and October 2023, this however, failed to happen as President Tinubu set a new date of January 2024.

Speaking at the 29^th National Economic Summit in October last year, Mr President said the loan programme “must commence in January 2024”, adding that there would be no more industrial actions in the tertiary institutions.

Other top government officials, who reiterated the botched January take-off at several public engagements, included the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, Minister of Education Prof. Tahir Mamman and Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Tanko Sununu.

But while the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Education Loan Fund, Dr Akintunde Sawyerr, fixed the new launch date for February 21, the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, gave February 26, both of which failed to materialise.

The development has left would-be beneficiaries bewildered and disenchanted, especially those below the poverty line.

Again, stakeholders have questioned the rationale for domiciling the scheme in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), whose core mandate is to issue legal tender currency in the country, maintain external reserves to safeguard the international value of the legal tender currency; promote a sound financial system in Nigeria and act as bankers’ bank and provide economic and financial advice to the Federal Government.

They argued that an apex bank should restrict itself as a lender of last resort and adviser to the Federal Government rather than over-burden itself with responsibilities that should have been handled by other ministries and parastatals. They said there is no justification for domiciling the Fund with the apex bank, especially when it already has a lot to grapple with in taking Nigeria out of the current economic downturn.

On the delayed take-off, investigations by The Guardian showed that some of the factors responsible for the failure of the scheme to commence as promised include non-inclusion of representatives of students’ body on the Student Loan Board and logistics challenges arising from domiciling the Loans Board at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rather than the Federal Ministry of Education.

Others are the decision by the Presidency to include persons who are not in formal school settings, leading to sourcing for additional funds to cater for the expansion and non-consultation with relevant stakeholders, specifically the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

The President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Lucky Emonefe, disclosed that students in private universities may not benefit from the scheme.

He revealed that the Loan Fund was yet to consult formally with the students’ body, a development, he insisted was akin to the success or otherwise of the programme.

He said: “I was with the Minister of State for Education with all the Vice Chancellors, Rectors and Provosts. He said they were still in the process. They have not started anything. He said they are putting things out and that the launching will soon take place. But he didn’t give any specific date.

“What we want is not just starting but starting well. I know the launch may not exceed a week from now but when they want to start, it should start well. Even we as students, there are questions we need to ask. Of course, there are sensitisations we need to do. These are the reasons I said that before they start a sensitive thing like this, we must be carried along.” (The Guardian)

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