The Ebonyi State University Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities has chided the Student’s Loan scheme, saying its realisation and viability are not sustainable.

The Union, however, called for a renegotiation of its demands, improved funding for revitalisation, university autonomy and academic freedom across the nation’s universities.

The Chairman of the EBSU-ASUU Chapter, Dr Ikechuku Igwenyi stated this during a press conference, on Monday, in Abakaliki the state capital.

He said, “As you all are aware, the education system in Nigeria has been bedevilled by underfunding and successive governments. Consequently, public primary and secondary schools have been destroyed, and their teachers have very low self-esteem as the poorest of public servants in Nigeria, with most of them earning less than $20 per month

“This deplorable and unfortunate situation has encouraged the massive drift of students from Public schools to privately owned Primary and Secondary Schools in Nigeria, where people are exploited for ‘quality’ education. Having achieved the destruction of the basic education system, it seems now is the turn of tertiary institutions.

“This anomaly, ASUU has vowed to resist and is exactly the reason ASUU is asking for renegotiation, improved funding for revitalization, university autonomy and academic freedom.

“These basic problems of our university education system have been truncated with several diversionary policies such as non-payment of Earned Academic Allowances, imposition of IPPIS, threats to the University Autonomy and autonomy of the University Senate by the forceful introduction of CCMAS, obnoxious notional promotion clauses, threat to Union Leaders for public advocacy, unregulated proliferation of state and private universities when there is no funding capacity, among a myriad of others. Today, the story is about the Student Loan Scheme.”

Speaking further, Igwenyi traced the origin of the students’ loan scheme back to Yakubu Gowon’s military regime. He noted that the scheme was designed to help students whose parents and guardians’ businesses were affected by the civil war to finance their education.

“Recall that the students’ loan scheme dates back to 1972 when Gen. Yakubu Gowon (Rtd) established the Students Loan Board as one, out of post-civil war recovery measures when the civil war ended. This was designed to help students in the country to finance their education and relieve parents and guardians, whose businesses were affected by the civil war. Millions of Naira went into the scheme and repayment posed a lot of challenges for the military government. Over ₦46 million loan was given out and over ₦40 million remained unrecoverable. Imagine if that sum was invested in the funding of the tertiary institutions.

“Later, the Nigerian Education Bank was established in 1993 through Decree No. 50 of 1993 out of the need to offer financial assistance to students, but due to the complexity of implementation and recovery, it was not implemented till Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (Rtd) stepped aside.”

“In 2016, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, the Leader of the House of Representatives under Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) sponsored the Bill for an Act to ‘provide for easy access to Higher Education for Nigerians through Interest-free Loans from the Nigerian Education Bank’, which did not see the light of day till 2022. The House of Representatives and Senate passed the Students’ Loan Bill by a modified name, ‘Access to Higher Education Bill.’

“The Bill is now signed by President Bola Tinubu as Access to Higher Education Act, 2023; the NELFUND Student Loan. Some of the modified conditions are that the students submit their data like NIN and Bank BVN with a promise to repay the loan 2 years after NYSC, with a caveat for loan forgiveness in the event of death of the beneficiary.”

He added that it is ASUU’s responsibility to give the public proper information on the student loan scheme which has generated so much controversy.

He stated, “ASUU has a duty to inform the public properly on this matter. It is disheartening that our leaders who enjoyed free and subsidised education in Nigeria and abroad are the people who have resurrected this obnoxious policy of funding education through individual loans.  Education is a public good that must be catered for by the government. One wonders why it is difficult to use the money for an already failed enterprise for intervention in public tertiary institutions and make the institutions financially autonomous through the provision of basic facilities for a functional education system with local content.

“Remember that the government had through thorough engagements with stakeholders agreed to inject N1.3 trillion as a consequence of the NEEDS Assessment Report of 2012 for turn-around maintenance of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This was to reduce the financial pressure on the Government, create Research Institutes for research and innovations, provide basic learning infrastructures, build hostels to remove students from town effects and make tuition affordable, and create opportunities for improved internally generated revenue among other benefits.

“The Federal Government released ₦200 billion in 2013 with a strong promise to release ₦220B annually for five years ending in 2018. Apart from the first tranche released in 2013 by the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, not a single complete tranche has been released to date. This is part of the issues ASUU is struggling to achieve, and a major demand of the Union that has seen several MoUs and MoAs without fidelity on the side of the Government.

“That single release of ₦200 billion in 2013 is the reason for most of the modern structures and facilities in all public Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education and Agriculture in Nigeria. On the Student Loan, ASUU was not comfortable with the inclusion of family income threshold, the initial disbursement ratio between the institution and the candidate, the source of the funding, repayment plan in a depressed economy where farmers are expelled from their farms, heavy taxes and tariff imposed on businesses, no reliable power supply, high risks of doing business, and insecurity, jobs are not guaranteed and unavailable after Youth service.