Prof Gbolahan Bolarin, chairperson of the Federal University of Technology, Minna chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has denounced the students loan bill signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on Monday.
The academic don believes that the law is unworkable since the characteristics of Nigeria were not taken into account before passing the bill into law.
The problem with Nigeria and similar projects, according to him, is that the leadership seeks to mimic what they see in other nations without taking into account what is available in Nigeria.
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He expressed concern that students who get loans may find it difficult to repay them due to the high jobless rate among graduates as well as the abysmal minimum wage.
Prof. Bolarin said that ASUU opposed the law from the start since the system is neither practicable nor sustainable, and so “dead on arrival.”
He said according to Punch, “The problem in Nigeria is that we copy policies from other countries and want to replicate them in our country without considering the situation here. Where are the jobs in Nigeria? There are graduates from over 20 years ago who are still jobless. Now the thing about this scheme is that as you repay, another person gets access to the loan.
“Now that the scheme will provide N1m per year, suppose a student comes to FUTMinna and stays for five years. That means you will receive N5m; what is the guarantee that you will get a job to pay it back? As of today, the minimum wage is N30,000. Is it feasible?
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“From the beginning, ASUU fought against it because of these issues. There are no two ways about it; this scheme is not going to be sustainable. You can see universities hiking fees, more universities will do this because governing councils of schools are looking for ways to fund schools; before you know it, the level of enrolment in public universities will be reduced.”
According to newsmen The bill signed by President Tinubu on Monday was sponsored by the immediate-past Speaker of the House of Representatives and the new Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and was passed by the National Assembly in November 2022.
The legislation calls for the establishment of a Nigerian education bank, which will be responsible for administering, supervising, coordinating, and monitoring the country’s student loan administration.
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According to the legislation, the bank is expected to accept and analyze applications for student loans through higher education institutions on behalf of the applicants.
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