Reports from the National Orientation Agency (NOA) reveal a widespread abuse of the National Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) by some tertiary institutions. The agency is worried that the trend is embarrassing to the nation?s ivory towers and must be curbed. Beyond this disclosure, the report also traced the unsavoury development to the endemic and seemingly intractable corruption in the public space.

According to NOA, investigations into the disbursement of student loans similarly uncovered several unethical practices by officials of some tertiary institutions who, in collusion with banks, short-change the beneficiaries. Specifically, NOA?s report uncovered how some institutions withheld critical information from the students, connived with banks to delay payments to successful student applicants, and, in some instances, failed to acknowledge the NELFUND?s disbursements to the students. On its part, NELFUND also confirmed that some institutions failed to inform students about loan disbursements made in their name while still requiring them to pay tuition fees.

This obvious misconduct on the part of the institutions raises a plethora of questions begging for answers. Why are the institutions withholding vital information from the students? Why ask students to pay tuition fees when the loan that was to address just that is willfully delayed by some corrupt elements within the system? What sort of character shaping will institutions that indulge in this unethical practice imbibe in the students?

This act portrays not just the institutions but the nation in a very bad light as it suggests that institutions of learning, which are supposed to be the moral compass and conscience of the nation, cannot be trusted to mould the characters of their students.

Without a doubt, the intent is to divert the funds. Otherwise, why would the institutions receive this money and refuse to inform the beneficiaries? But how did we, as a people, condescend this low? While the nation sees an opportunity to expand access to tertiary education, the officials of the banks and the affected institutions see an opportunity for corrupt enrichment.

The Student Loan Act, upon which the NELFUND came into existence, is essentially a law that aims to guarantee access to tertiary education for many, especially indigent students. It provides access to zero-interest loans to enable them to pay for institutional charges and upkeep at any higher institution of their choice within Nigeria.

It is, therefore, disconcerting to observe that a few months after the formal disbursement of these funds, allegations of unethical practices are springing up. This time round, curiously, it was not from the disbursing authority but banks and tertiary institutions. This shows clearly how some people are averse to seeing laudable initiatives take root and achieve the aim for which they were put in place.

As plausible as NOA?s discovery is, we are alarmed that the agency, instead of naming and shaming these institutions and the banks, elected to keep their identities secret. Nigerians need to know the culprits in this brazen attempt to abuse the student loan initiative because their actions have wide implications.

This unethical conduct by the institutions and the banks is capable of truncating the genuine intentions of the policy. It also means that students who should have received a reprieve through access to the loan would not do so and might not see through their academic pursuit. But most importantly, this act suggests that students would eventually have to pay for loans that they never benefitted from in the first place. Even more dangerous is the indelible mark this act will leave on the students? psyche which will make them assume that the country is not interested in their wellbeing.

How the nation degenerated to this level is baffling as it is condemnable. Tertiary institutions as citadels of learning are by convention expected to confer certificates to students only after certifying them worthy in learning and character. If they are found wanting in character, then it gives serious cause for concern. No wonder the incidence of certificate forgery, examination malpractices, cultism, and other social vices have continued to be the defining features of the institutions.

If left unchecked, this sort of unethical practice by some institutions in connivance with banks risks jeopardising all the envisaged gains of student loan initiatives. Unless urgent steps are taken by all the relevant stakeholders, including the anti-graft agencies, the euphoria that greeted the federal government?s student loan initiative will give way to despondency, and that will be a sad commentary for the nation.

In our opinion, the NOA needs to name and shame the institutions involved in this unethical conduct with the colluding banks, even if to protect the integrity of other institutions and banks since not all of them indulge in this national embarrassment.

Most importantly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) must step in promptly to investigate and ultimately prosecute all those found culpable. There should be no sacred cow, as that will only help to incentivise others. (LEADERSHIP Editorial)

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