ASUU Chief kicks against students loan bill

The chairperson of the Federal University of Technology, Minna chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof Gbolahan Bolarin, has kicked against the student loan bill

In an interview with Punch on Tuesday,  the Professor described the law as “dead on arrival”,saying it does not represent the true situation of the country.

“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?

“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.”

Among many other things the bill, which was sponsored by the outgoing Speaker of the house of representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, is aimed at accelerating easy access to higher education for Nigerians through an interest-free loan from the Nigerian Education Bank which is established in the Act to provide education for Nigerians and other related purposes.

The bill was signed into Law by President on Monday.