Education Loans May Lead Students into Lifelong Debt – ASUU Warns, Profers Solution

Cursory: ASUU has expressed concerns over the proposed education loan scheme, citing fears of perpetual student debt. ASUU opposed the Student Loan Scheme, advocating for grants and scholarships instead. They urged the government to restore the Needs-Based Budgeting System and conduct a needs assessment for public universities.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) expressed concerns that the proposed education loan scheme would lead students into long-term debt. This declaration came following the union’s National Executive Council meeting at the Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, on Thursday.

ASUU also expressed astonishment at the reported unfulfilled promises made by the administration led by Bola Tinubu, regarding the unresolved issues that led to the nationwide strike action from February to October 2022.

It’s worth noting that several agreements, such as the payment of Earned Academic Allowance, the stagnant renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, withdrawal from the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System, the provision of revitalization funds, and the withholding of salaries, have yet to be fulfilled by the government.

ASUU, however, maintains its stance that the Student Loan Scheme, advocated by global financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, would deprive public universities of necessary funding.

The statement read, “For the avoidance of doubt, the NEC of ASUU reiterated its rejection of the Students Loan Scheme which is being promoted by international money lending agencies such as IMF and World Bank.

“Nigerians should be aware that the scheme is a way of starving public universities of funding and a ploy to divert public funds into private universities owned by politically exposed individuals and their friends.“

NEC further observed that the students’ loan scheme will mortgage the entire university system and keep our promising students in perpetual indebtedness.

“If the scheme could fail in some better-managed economies, there is no guarantee that it will succeed in Nigeria where unbridled corruption, nepotism, and other unsavoury tendencies conspired to kill the Education Bank project after over five years of its existence.”

ASUU recommended that if both state and federal governments genuinely aimed to invest in Nigerian students, they should provide grants and scholarships to students and reintroduce the Needs-Based Budgeting System in universities to enhance efficiency.

ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, expressed the union’s disapproval of significant fee increases in schools, emphasizing that funds diverted from government coffers should be allocated to support universities.

It read, “NEC condemns in its entirety the wave of fee hike without inputs of the victims across our campuses.

“Daily scandalous reports of stupendous funds diverted from government treasuries at state and Federal levels reinforce our belief that resources available to the country could support government-funded university education –without excessive pressures on parents as currently done.”

It was clarified that if the Federal Government had adhered to the MoU 2013, which allocated N1.3 trillion over a six-year period, numerous universities would have been elevated to a standard capable of drawing foreign students and gaining recognition for pioneering and transformative research.

“We challenge the Tinubu administration to urgently initiate moves to conduct another needs assessment exercise to empirically verify our call for massive intervention in our public universities.

“It was the Federal Government’s response to a similar challenge in 2012 that gave rise to the aggregate sum of N1.3 trillion which the Government has since abrogated,” it said.

Credits: ALLSCHOOL, Vanguard

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