Southsouth and Southeast students have given reasons for their low participation in the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

Some of the students told our reporters that they had passive knowledge of the scheme; others were uninterested in it.

While those with a passive idea blamed poor sensitisation by relevant authorities on the benefits, others said they are wary of the repayment terms.

Many parents and stakeholders from the two geopolitical zones aligned with the students.

They listed ego, perceived marginalisation, and lack of trust as other likely contributors to the students? low interest in the scheme.

The students, parents and stakeholders, however, suggested improved sensitisation by relevant authorities as the best way to change the trend.

NELFUND Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Akintunde Sawyerr, had, early this month, identified low poverty rates and cultural nuances as major reasons for the low loan application by Southsouth and Southeast students.

Statistic released by NELFUND last week indicate that only 27,098 students benefited for the loan in the Southeast and 37,180 from the Southsouth.

The Northwest has the highest figure of beneficiaries with 157,831 students, followed by the Northeast with 127,058 and Southwest with 92,850. Northcentral has 74,120 beneficiaries.

The student loan scheme is a cardinal programme and campaign promise of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

It is designed to prevent indigent students from dropping out of school and to assist parents save the money they would have used in paying school fees.

Successful applicants? fees are paid to the institution of learning after verification.

The student gets N20,000 cash monthly, directly pay to him, for his upkeep.

The repayment of the interest-free loan by the student will commence two years after completion of youth service, provide the student has got a job or he is earning income.

The tertiary institutions visited by our reporters in the Southeast are the Nnamdi Azikiwe University(NAU), Awka and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam in Anambra State; University of Nigeria, Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) and Enugu State College of Education Technical (ESCET) in Enugu State; Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufi-Alike Ikwo (AE-FUNAI), Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri in Imo State and Ebonyi State University, Isieke in Ebonyi State.

In the Southsouth were the University of Benin and Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma in Edo State; Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka and Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun in Delta State; Dennis Osadebey University, Oshimili and Southern Delta University, Ozoro in Delta.

Others were the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State University and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

DELTA

A former union leader, Wiska Monday, said many students in the Niger Delta are uninterested in the programme because ??they have sponsors that fund their education.??

He added that repayment conditions were a part of the contributors to the low interest by students of the Southsouth.

He said: ?Though the repayment terms appear good but there is no certainty of getting a job after graduating.

?The question on the minds of students is likely: How will I pay back the loan? Students are no businesspeople, who may be tempted to take loans that they can repay through profits.??

RIVERS

At the Federal Polytechnic, Bonny, a student, Gabriel Nwoha, said that though he was aware of the scheme, he had not made any effort to apply because of ??reasons best known to me.??

National President, Nigerian Union of Rivers State Students (NURSS), Chijioke Amadi, said students in the state were initially not interested in the scheme until their unions embarked on sensitisation campaigns in various campuses.

He stated that the delays in payments to the beneficiaries and the institutions discourage enrolment by students in the state.

Amadi, who is a student of state government-owned Ignatius Ajuru University of Education added: ?Before we began the sensitisation outreaches in the various campuses in Rivers State, some of the students, who knew about the scheme and wanted to enroll, had a drawback for fear of repayment strategies and enrolment bottlenecks.?

SOUTHSOUTH STAKEHOLDERS SPEAK

Stakeholders in tertiary institutions and parents in the zone said apart from poor awareness by students, distrust and sceptism were also contributory factors. .

A former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Abuja, Prof. Philip Afaha, said information on the loan scheme had not sunk into the consciousness of students.

Afaha, who hails from Akwa Ibom State and currently Special Adviser to the Edo Governor on Policy and Strategy, said: ?NELFUND is a wonderful programme of the President Bola Tinubu?s administration, aimed at providing financial succour and support to students of tertiary institutions and alleviating the burden on parents.

?Unfortunately, there is no adequate information on the programme. It looks elitist, as most students and parents in suburban areas have no access to information about NELFUND.

?There has to be enough sensitisation and awareness campaigns on NELFUND. I suggest a campus-to-campus campaign, so that students can key into it.?

President, Movement for the Izon Ethnic Nationalities in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND), Kennedy Tonjo-West, said he was not happy with the low patronage of the scheme in the Southsouth. He called on NELFUND to be transparent with the process of obtaining the loan.

Tonjo-West said it was not enough to reel out statistics of percentage of the loans disbursed regionally, stressing that analysis of the number of unsuccessful applications from all the zones should be disclosed.

He said, ?We advise that the loan initiative should be more transparent and equitable. It is a lack of transparency that has made it to favour students from a region. We urge the authorities to ensure equal access to all and increased transparency in the selection process, to address regional disparity.?

Dean of Students? Affairs, Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Prof. Ignatius Njoseh, revealed that in 2024, only 222 students benefited out of the 953 others that applied.

Asked to state the level of response by DELSU students, Njoseh said: ?It is not even up to average in the first/last year, because the students were sceptical.?

He pointed out that the students? concerns border on ?trust? in the scheme.

?The only concern the students had was trust. At first, they were looking at it as a scam until we started sending message on our own,? the Dean said.

Higher Education Commissioner, Prof. Tonukari Johnbull, however, told The Nation that his ministry had commenced a series of engagements with heads of institutions and students unions to stimulate the enrolment of students in the programme.

A Benin-based parent, Titus Akhigbe, said: ?The coordination of NELFUND?s students? loan scheme is poor, and the initiative is almost inaccessible.

?I have two children who are undergraduates of UNIBEN but they claim ignorant of the loans by NELFUND.?

Another parent, Douglas Ogbankwa, said: ?Many students of the tertiary institutions in this state are not aware of the laudable initiative as the publicity is too low.

?Top officials of NELFUND must vigorously engage social media influencers, to put the issue on the front burner to fully carry along the youths of this Gen Z era, who are caught up in the tech environment, and always on various social media platforms.??

ANAMBRA

A student leader in one of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka?s departments, Iruoma Eze, said, ?Some unanswered questions surrounding the loan contributes to the apathy in the Southeast.

Eze said: ?When I approached some students to inform them of the loan, they asked several questions, including ?what is the interest rate? What of the payback arrangements and others which they could not get satisfactory answers??

?For the mere fact that it?s a loan, they felt they would be indebted to Nigeria. They felt that could cost them many things. For many, scholarships would have been better.

?The average Igbo man will not want to be limited by such thing (debt). He will prefer to struggle or at most, borrow from a relation.?

Lucy Nnona of IMT, who admitted being aware of the scheme, said earlier information made her to lose interest in it.

She said, ?When the NELFUND was launched, we heard that they will prioritise some geopolitical zones. Some of us from the Southeast removed our minds from it. This is because we thought they would never include us. I never knew we would be included afterwards.?

EBONYI

Omege James of AE-FUNAI said he didn?t apply for the loan because some political office holders in his council area give grants to students from their constituencies.

He, however, believes that ?people are afraid of applying for the loan because they are not properly enlightened.?

?I come from a poor home, but we have access to finance for my education through some government officials who give us grants regularly to help us pay our fees,?? James said.

He called on NELFUND and government at all levels to come up with better programmes to enlighten students.

The AE-FUNAI Student Union Government President, Sopuruchi Victor, lamented that many students of the institution were sceptical about the loan even after being sensitised about the programme.

Victor said: ?Last year, we attended a Southeast students engagement that was held in October. It had NELFUND officials in attendance who enlightened us about the fund.

?When we got back to our schools, we carried out sensitisation programmes across all faculties with faculty presidents, faculty associations and departmental associations.

?We made them understand that this (loan) is not something that they will be paying back immediately.

?After that, we got about 1,478 of our students who enrolled for the first batch. They became beneficiaries but I simply cannot say the reason or reasons why enrolment is low in the Southeast.?

Samson Ike, a student of EBSU, said the fact that there is no job guarantee after graduation is a factor that dissuades them from taking the loan.

?If you graduate and don?t get a job, how will you pay. I have heard that one will start payment once he begins to work, but this Nigeria where anything can happen.

?I am personally afraid, and I am sure many other students are.?

Another student and immediate past SUG President of Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education (AIFUE), Emmanuel Osuji, attributed the apathy in the zone to students? misconceptions about repayment of the loan.

?Most students don?t have interest because of the loan clause; they think if they collect the loan, they are still going to pay back,? Osuji explained.

He noted that despite participating in sensitisation efforts, many students are waiting to see the experiences of those who have already applied.

?I was among the people that did the sensitisation; they are waiting for those that have applied,? he said.

Osuji expressed optimism that the recent disbursement of funds would lead to increased interest in the next batch of applicants.

SOUTHEAST STAKEHOLDERS LIST REASONS, PANACEA

Some of the stakeholders in the zone, who also attributed the low applications to poor sensitisation, added that ego and sense of marginalisation by Igbo youths were contributors.

A parent, Modestus Umenzekwe, said he believes the real reason for the lack of interest in the loan by Southeat students was ego.

He also said it was not unlikely that the feeling of ?marginalisation by many Igbo youths? was responsible.

He said: ?You know a typical Southeastener has I can do it attitude. That is what I mean by ego. I simply don?t understand why our students cannot key into the laudable programme which comes on a platter.

?Again, there is this alleged marginalisation of the zone by the government. This, I believe, makes them (students) feel the loans are not for them.

?But it?s not so, the loans are real and working. Many people have received it.

?We need proper sensitisation of our youths. We need the traditional way of sensitising them through the town criers, going to the markets and our churches.?

A publisher, Tony Okafor, said the apathy characterising in the Southeast could be linked to ignorance or misconception of the loan?s benefits, terms and conditions, fear of debt and repayment burdens.

He called for the simplification of the application process, provision of support services, financial literacy training and counseling programmes to assist students make informed decisions.

However, some of the institutions in the zone have taken the lead in making sure the anomaly is corrected by setting up committees to that effect.

Others are looking up to the student?s Union governments to take the lead.

Bursar of NAU, Gozie Egwuatu, revealed that the institution has ?released money to print fliers to sensitise its students.?

?We realise there is work to do by our people to help the students in that regard, ?he said

A reliable source in the university, who did not want to be quoted, revealed that a committee has also been set to ?school students on why it?s important for them to access the loan.?

Head of Publicity Department, AE-FUNAI, Iyke Elom said the school has been assisting students to navigate the enrollment process.

I can?t really speak for each student anyway, but in respect to our school, students have been registering to access the loan.

?If you check the breakdown that was released right from the beginning, our school has the highest number in the Southeast, even in Nigeria at some point in time.

?Our students were enlightened and also informed about the opportunities in the loan. You know, a loan is not compulsory. That?s what people should understand first. It?s not compulsory.

?But we are publicising and informing students and just enlightening them on the need and the benefits of accessing the loan.? (The Nation)

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