NELFUND: ‘Reduce cost of education instead of giving loans’, NANS tells FG

The Nation Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has advised the Federal Government to prioritise the reduction of the high cost of education instead of the loans is it currently giving to students.

The Senate President of the NANS, Henry Okuomo stated this on Friday as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

According to him, a reduction in the costs of education would be more profitable to Nigerian students, as against loans that may not be paid back due to the high rate of unemployment.

He said, “For now, we don’t know who the beneficiaries of those loans are. We don’t know those who have applied for the loans and the modalities of getting the loans because it is not even accessible to some students.

“We know those who have tried getting the loans that couldn’t get it.

“We have reached out to NELFUND on the issue but haven’t been able to get feedback.

“Apart from the loan, we propose that instead of giving loans to the students, the government should reduce the cost of education.

“They should bring down the cost being paid by tertiary institutions to between N20,000 and N50,000.

“This will allow anybody to be able to access education if the fee is affordable. But now, even with the loan that they are giving us, we do not know the modalities for payment.

“Is it this country now that a graduate is not able to get a job that a loan will be paid back to the government?

The implementation of the student loan scheme is President Bola Tinubu’s flagship project in the education sector.

The president introduced the fund when he signed the Access to Higher Education Act, which creates a legal framework for granting loans to indigent or low-income Nigerians to facilitate the payment of their fees in Nigerian tertiary institutions.

Last month, the fund said it had cleared an extra 22 state-owned tertiary institutions to apply for student loans.

The onboarding of the 22 state-owned institutions brings total number of approved state institutions to 108.

In July the Federal Government said it would disburse the sum of ₦850m to tertiary institution students.

The Managing Director of the Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, made this known during a press briefing in Abuja.

According to Akintunde, this is apart from the over ₦1.7bn that has been disbursed to about 20,000 students.

“The sum of N850m will be leaving the account of NELFUND today to institutions. This is apart from the N1.7bn naira that has already been disbursed.”

Earlier, Sawyer revealed that the Fund had disbursed institutional fees to 20,000 students through their institutions.

He also noted that a total of 260,000 loans including institutional fees and upkeep have been approved.

No fewer than 1.2 million students are expected to benefit from this cardinal programme of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Speaking on controversies surrounding the leadership of the union, Okuomo said the legitimate President of the NANS is Pedro Chibuzor Obi.

He stated that the union does not recognise any other leadership than that of Obi.

The clarification comes following after a factional Senate President of the association, Babatunde Akinteye denied that the group was organising a protest against the increase in petrol price.

He said, “When there is an organisation like this, something of this nature is going to happen in this country.

“The government will always find their way to sponsore faceless individuals to go against it.

“As far as I know, NANS remains an indivisible entity. The only NANS that is being recognised by the Nigerian students is the one being led by Comrade Pedro Chibuzor Obi as the President, where I am serving as the Senate President.

“So we don’t know where the others are coming from. Who conducted their elections and where did they come from?

“I tag them as faceless individuals and machinery being used by the government.”