By Bukola Olasanmi
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has vehemently rejected the recently proposed Students’ Loan Scheme by the National Assembly saying it will create more problems than it was meant to solve.
This was made known by ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, who said that with the current high rate of unemployment in the country, it would be impossible for students to repay such loans after graduation.
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He spoke at the ongoing National Summit on Tertiary Education Reform 2022, in Abuja.
Prof Osodeke also criticised the proposal of N250,000 per session as tuition fee, where a student would apply for a loan of N500,000 to pay and sustain himself.
According to him, this means that any student who cannot access the loan is at the risk of forfeiting university education considering the level of poverty and unemployment in Nigeria, including the current minimum wage of 30,000 Naira which he says has proven unsustainable going by recent high inflation rate and cost of living.
“ASUU would never support the issue of education bank because the poor would not benefit from it. The best solution is adequate funding for Universities,” Prof Osodeke said.
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Similarly, the Dean of post graduate studies, Lead City University, Professor Afolakemi Oredein, said that if implemented the next problem for students will be accessibility for those students who need the funds as well as repayment.
Oredein argued that the loan scheme should be private sector driven to make it more efficient.
On the mode of operation of the Education bank, which is to be saddled with the responsibility of providing the loans, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila said the proposed Student Loan Scheme prevents defaulting because a student must be an indigene of the awarding state and must also have two guarantors.