Stakeholders who share their views with GRACE EDEMA differ on the student loan bill recently signed by President Bola Tinubu, with some expressing doubts about its benefits, while others describe it as a solution to tertiary institution funding
June 12, 2023 signing of the student loan bill by President Bola Tinubu was not the first time the loan scheme was proposed and operated in Nigeria.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the loan scheme was operated in Nigeria by the Student Loan Board and the Education Bank initiative. Unfortunately, a mess was made of both.
As such, the news of the signing of the bill, which will give tertiary institutions’ students interest-free loans went viral and caught the attention of Nigerians.
The bill was received with mixed reactions as the major unions of tertiary institutions, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities and Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics did not hesitate to remind Nigerians that they had never been in support of the loan.
The Student Loan Bill was proposed by the former Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and it was passed by the lawmakers in late May 2023 and assented to by President Tinubu.
While delivering the 52nd convocation address at the University of Lagos in November 2022, he stated that he proposed a bill in the National Assembly named Student Loans (Access to Higher Education Bill), saying, the Education Bank would provide interest-free loans to students in tertiary institutions in order to make funding education at that level more accessible to all.
However, there has been criticism of the bill. Some critics have said it would lead to a hike in fees in nstitutions, which all lack infrastructure and educational resources. Another challenge is burdening students with debts after graduation in a nation ridden with a high unemployment rate and poor economic policies.
ASUU kicks
The National President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, in an interview with The PUNCH, described the loan as discriminatory.
Osodeke said, “Everyone knows our position on the student loan because it will end up encumbering the children of the poor with loans and debt after graduating. This is discriminatory. If what I read online is correct, it said it is only for children whose parents earn at most N500,000 per annum. That means if your father earns more, you won’t benefit.”
Similarly, the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Mr Anderson Ezeibe, said that the intentions of the bill might be noble, but it was going to be very difficult to sustain it.
Ezeibe said it obviously downplayed the unemployment crisis in the nation, as well as the southern trends in other economic indices expected to support the loan scheme.
He said, “We see a big bobby trap in expecting graduates to commence repayment of the loans after two years of graduation when the evidence before us shows that a large majority of graduates are not guaranteed any form of employment within two years of graduation. This alone endangers the sustainability of the loan scheme.”
On his part, the Director/Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, insisted that there were more important issues in the education sector than the loan.
“The student loan can have an impact abroad, but here where it is not guaranteed you get a job, and when you get a job, can you say it is a good job?”
He complained that “It is unnecessary. If there is a plan to create education banks, it is another heavy institutional investment, having buildings here and there.’’
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Languages, and Cultures, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada, Ademola Adesola, who said he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Manitoba without any student loan, also emphasised that the student loan was not the solution to Nigeria’s education problem, saying students had always found their way through school without loans.
Senior Lecturer, Department of Computing and Informatics, Bournemouth University, United Kingdom, Dr Festus Adedoyin, explained that, in the UK, there were tuition fee loans that covered the cost of tuition fees charged by universities or colleges, and maintenance loans, which provide financial support for living expenses such as accommodation, food, and study materials.
He, however, revealed that repayment of student loans could sometimes be challenging as the repayment period for student loans was 30 years in the U.K.
“Whilst the loan has several benefits as it provides access to higher education for many individuals who would otherwise be unable to afford it, the burden of debt can sometimes cause financial stress and influence life decisions, such as career choices or delaying other major financial commitments.”
In addition, the National President of the Association of Tutorial Owners, Mr. Oladotun Sodunke, said, “The newly-introduced student loan would not bring any progress to students and the education sector.
“It will not take us anywhere; people are already saying come and take a loan to study any course in Nigeria. To study in which school? To study in a seriously under-equipped institution? Education in Nigeria is messed up. Education should be genuinely and fully funded. We are doing less than 5% of the budget. Government should do like 10%.”
Student loan prospects
On the contrary, a former Vice-Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin Akungba University, Ondo State, Prof Femi Mimiko, envisaged that the dying universities would be greatly enhanced, if the intention of the new Act was properly delivered.
He added that the compelling implication of the scheme was that it would now make it permissible for all the tertiary educational institutions in the country, to charge for tuition, adding that the lack of tuition fees in tertiary institutions was the very recipe for institutional decay, which had been the lot of higher educational institutions these past decades.
He said, “The contentious issue of an effective repayment system that takes cognisance of the realities of our economy can be worked out in a future amendment, with a view to allowing a longer moratorium, before the commencement of repayment. The same goes for the need to allow professors and chief lecturers to serve as guarantors to intending applicants, for easier access to the loans for them. The issue of the N500,000 income threshold that qualifies applicants can also be revisited if it comes across as too stringent. Everything considered, I am of the considered opinion that the possibilities of this paradigmatic shift in higher education funding in our country should be explored.”
Benefit of loan
Adedoyin also added that student loans would improve career prospects and personal development, considering that the cost of education could be a significant barrier for many students.
“Therefore, to make higher education accessible, the government offers student loans,” he said.
The Majority of those who spoke with The PUNCH reiterated that the loan should not be a priority but funding of the education sector.
Yusuf noted that tertiary institution was highly subsidised and the bigger thing to do in the tertiary institution was to address the issue of funding and lecturers’ welfare.
“ASUU’s demands have not been sorted. If government must give support to students, why not give a scholarship or bursary? There is no quality data to also monitor all these things. The student loan is not a priority, we have enough subsidies and very few parents can say they can’t struggle around paying a federal government university fee.
“There are other bigger issues to be addressed in the education sector, like the out-of-school children.
“Nigeria has the highest and 10 years down the line, do we know what becomes of these children? Equality of primary and secondary education are bigger issues and we are not investing enough in that aspect,” he said.
Adesola argued that, if the government was thinking of developing the education sector, giving out loans should not be the starting point. To him, “It is like climbing a tree from the top.
“What the country’s education needs is a revamp, a turnaround, and heavy investment in the sector. Why should students take loan? For a substandard education?
“Here in Canada, when students take loans, they have certain rights like teachers not absenting from class and others. “Other things which government is supposed to consider are welfare and salaries of lecturers generally. The lecturers should be reoriented. The attitude where lecturers don’t come regularly to class should be looked into.”
Mimiko maintained that the Act was reflective of what he and some other colleagues had always advocated for so long. He explained that a robust student loans scheme be put in place, robust enough to ensure any bona fide student that requires some facility to pay their way through school is able to access such.
“The contentious issue of an effective repayment system that takes cognisance of the realities of our economy can be worked out in a future amendment, with a view to allowing a longer moratorium before the commencement of repayment. The same goes for the need to allow professors and chief lecturers to serve as guarantors to intending applicants, for easier access to the loans for them. The issue of the N500,000 income threshold that qualifies applicants can also be revisited if it comes across as too stringent. Everything considered, I am of the considered opinion that the possibilities of this paradigmatic shift in higher education funding in our country should be explored. I know that our Union; the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), is opposed to this idea; but I think its position, with due respect, is anachronistic.
While advising the Federal Government on how to make the student loan work effectively in Nigeria, Adedoyin said, “The Federal Government can build a strong database for managing students’ records right from primary education to secondary education up to university level. This will influence other aspects of the whole person-centered development.
“With such a structure in place, the Nigerian student loan system can play a crucial role in widening access to higher education, enabling students from various backgrounds to pursue their academic goals.
“An unbiased (religious, ethnic, or social) understanding of the structure, eligibility criteria, repayment terms, and impact of student loans to all Nigerians (using clear grassroots communication systems) can assist individuals to make informed decisions regarding their educational and financial future.’’
