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ASUU Advises President Tinubu to Convert Student Loan to Grant
Cursory: The President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has urged President Bola Tinubu to convert the newly signed Students Loans Act into a grant for disadvantaged students. Osodeke argues that it should be a grant instead of a loan since the Federation Account funds it. A lecturer at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, also supports the initiative but raises concerns about the strict guidelines and the potential for corruption.
Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has called on President Bola Tinubu to transform the recently enacted Students Loans Act into a grant program aimed at assisting underprivileged students in Nigeria.
President Bola Tinubu signed the Students Loans Bill into law on Monday, June 12. This bill seeks to provide interest-free loans to economically disadvantaged Nigerian students pursuing higher education.
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The legislation was introduced by Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, who now serves as the President’s Chief of Staff, as reported by Channels Television.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme today, Osodeke said:
“This would have been better if we are giving it to those set of students who are very poor, it should be called a grant, not a loan.
“It should be called a grant since it is coming from the Federation Account and not that (after) these people have access it and when they are graduating, they have heavy loads behind them and within two years, if they don’t pay, they go to jail. That’s why we’re talking about collective bargaining, you have views from all the sides.”
According to Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, when comparing the newly enacted Students Loans Act with previous loan programs implemented by past administrations, he expressed concerns about the sustainability and feasibility of the student loan system.
The ASUU President said: “The idea of student loan came in 1972 and it was in a bank established. People who took loans never paid, you can go and investigate. In 1994, 1993, the military enacted Decree 50 also set up a Students’ Loan Board. The National Assembly domesticated it in 2004 and within a year, it went off. The money disappeared. We want to see how this one will be different.”
A lecturer at the Federal university, Oye-Ekiti, Wole Balogun, in an exclusive chat with Legit.ng said it’s a good initiative from the government but expressed fear about the guidelines to access the loan are very stringent.
He added: “Another is the tendency of government officials saddled with the responsibility to manage the loan to be corrupt and embezzled the money. So, government must ensure that the guidelines are well reviewed in a way to take care of those who truly need it.”
