Experts in the education sector have lauded the Students Loan (Access to Higher Education) Act, describing it as capable of changing the narrative of higher education in Nigeria.
The stakeholders, who lauded President Bola Tinubu’s assent to the bill, said that with the astronomical rise in tuition in public higher institutions, the loan scheme will reduce the burden of parents and guardians.
The interest-free loan scheme will serve as buffer to indigent Nigerian students and grant them access to higher education, some stakeholders across Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti states said in separate interviews.
The President of the National Association of the Ondo State Students ( NAOSS), Mr Hammed Oyelade, said that members of the association across the country were well aware of the new initiative of the Students’ Loan Scheme and were waiting eagerly for its implementation.
“Students are aware of the loan; they are waiting for its commencement. Students’ Union bodies have been enlightening students about the loan
Oyelade, who described the initiative as workable and sustainable if sincerely implemented, asked the Federal Government to review the criteria for accessing the scheme so that children of the downtrodden could benefit in proportional percentages.
“The scheme is workable if it is handled with sincerity and transparency. The sustainability depends on the ability of the government to secure jobs for the beneficiaries as soon they graduate so that they can pay back the loan because if it is not paid back there is no way the government will sustain it,” he said.
The NAOSS President called on critical stakeholders to support the scheme, saying that if successful, it will have a multiplier effect on the country
“Beneficiaries of this scheme are students who cannot afford to sponsor their education and they are those whose family income is less than N500,000 per annum.
“A would-be beneficiary must provide proof of admission into any of the public tertiary institutions in the country, with at least two guarantors.
“Beneficiaries can repay the loan in installments, commencing two years after they complete their participation in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program.
“I believe that with time, it will involve many other things that will make Nigerian students happier,” he said.
Also, Mr Aderogba Ogunleye, a parent of a university student, hailed President Bola Tinubu for the scheme, which he described as a laudable gesture.
“Actually, I would say the scheme is workable and sustainable if the government can do the needful, as they promised.
“This is a huge benefit for everyone because the fees will be paid for our children, but the government should try as much as possible to remove the bottleneck which makes the scheme difficult to access,” Ogunleye said.
He, however, urged the Federal Government not to abandon the scheme halfway, but to fully implement the scheme for the benefit of the parents and students who could not afford to pay the high school fees.
Also, Olumuyiwa Adedeji, a 300-level student of the Mass Communication Department at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, applauded the Federal Government for the scheme.
Adedeji explained that the scheme would go a long way to assist some students who would have ordinarily dropped out of school due to the inability of their poor parents to pay their fees when due.
“I almost quit my studies last year when things got too hard and my dad could not afford to pay. I had to look for menial jobs to support him.
“But my fear now is to be able to easily access the loan because some parents may not be able to get the loan due to the requirements for accessing the loan.
“Apart from that, the scheme will be workable and most of the parents who are qualified to access it will be able to do so easily.
“In a way, the scheme might also deter some students from engaging in internet fraud because most of them use the money to pay for their fees,” he said.
However, an educationist, Mrs Deborah Fakorede, doubted the workability of the scheme, saying that the requirements to access the loan could stand as a bottleneck.
“I don’t see it as something that will work. Looking at the criteria to get the loan, it will not be easy for children from very poor families.
“And in this kind of society, it is the powerful people that will hijack it. They will not allow those people that need it to benefit,” she said.
In Osun, Mr Emmanuel Adegoke, an Educationist, said the modalities for accessing and repayment of the student loan would determine its workability and sustainability.
Adegoke said that the provision that the loan repayment should start two years after a student has graduated from school, might not make the scheme to be workable or feasible.
He said that in advanced countries, the student loan is spread for a long time and repayment will start after the student has started working.
Adegoke said if the same system could be adopted in Nigeria, it would give good credence to the scheme.
Also, Dr Adebayo Obadiora, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Arts and Social Science Education, at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), has called on the Federal Government to reduce the condition attached to the student loan scheme
Obadiora, in an interview in Ile-Ife, said that the modality for repayment of the loan, which was put at two years after the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program needed to be reconsidered.
She said many graduates, were still in search of jobs, years after graduation.
Obadiora said that if care was not taken and without the support of schools’ management, the federal government might not realize the objectives of the scheme.
Similarly, Mr Emmanuel Olowu, the convener of Democracy Vanguard, an NGO, said the student loan scheme would be of great benefit to many students who have financial constraints.
Olowu said the Federal Government needed to be more proactive to ensure that targeted students have access to the loans.
He, however, said that the recent postponement of the scheme till January 2024 was not in the best interest of many students, who were struggling to pay school fees.
”The scheme ought to start now, but nothing is on the ground only a mere pronouncement. Many students are finding it difficult to pay their school fees.
”Also, whenever the exercise will commence, it should not be politicized For the benefit of indigent students,” he said.
In Ekiti, the Commissioner for Information, Chief Taiwo Olatunbosun, and the State Director of the National Orientation Agency, (NOA), Mr Akin Adeyemi, said adequate public enlightenment was being carried out on the loan scheme to educate the people.
This is just as divergent views greeted the workability, sustainability, and sincerity of the government about the scheme.
A student, Femi Olusola said that the highlighted requirements to access the loan meant that several indigent students would be denied.
Corroborating Olusola, a Public Affairs Analyst, Akin Demola, questioned why there was no specific amount stated as tuition under the law, saying this may have a negative effect.
According to him, the conclusion by the Act that benefiting graduates would have secured a job within two years of completing the NYSC program, is grossly misplaced, as the unemployment rate in the country is alarming.
He suggested that the government might have to review the law, such that if the circumstance of a beneficiary makes it difficult for him or her to pay, the timeframe given be adjusted.
A community leader in Ekiti and Lagos-based industrialist, Dr. Olusegun Aderemi, commended President Bola Tinubu on the approval of the Student loan, saying the loan scheme would widen the scope of access to education by many Nigerian youths.
Aderemi, who is the Atayero of Aramoko Ekiti, in Ekiti West Local Government area of Ekiti state, said the government should make sure the scheme is pursued to the letter, and with all seriousness.
“Whichever way you look at it, education is number one just as safety is important. If the government is talking about giving loans to students in higher institutions, it is the right step in the right direction.
“It will reduce social vices in the country,” he said.
Also, the Vice Chancellor, of Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere Ekiti, Prof. Olufemi Adeoluwa, hailed the provisions of the Students Loan Act, saying it would bring respite to students, particularly indigent ones.
Adeoluwa said “In some climes outside Nigeria, in the United Kingdom for example, a lot of university students run on loans, which they pay back gradually after their graduation, especially after they have secured employment.
“That will go a long way to assist a lot of students.”
The VC, who spoke during the matriculation ceremony conducted for the 3,490 fresh students officially inducted into the BOUESTI’s Colleges of Education, Science, and Technology for the 2022/2023 academic calendar, urged Nigerians to exercise patience to see the Students Loan program manifest.
