Why the Student Loan Can not work- ASUU
The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke while speaking with Channels Television highlighted some reasons he feels the recent student loan initiative by President Tinubu is a bad idea and should not be implemented.
One of Osodeke’s major problems with the whole student loan is the means of sustainability. According to him, Nigeria does not have the structure to sustain such a program. He said;
“The idea of student loans came in 1972 and it was in a bank established. People who took loans never paid”.
“In 1994, 1993, the military enacted Decree 50 also set up a Students’ Loan Board. The National Assembly domesticated it in 2004 and within a year, it went off. The money disappeared. We want to see how this one will be different,” he added.
Another major point he highlighted is the accessibility of the loans. According to him, 90% of students will not meet the criteria to access the loans.
Osodeke also talked about the weight of repaying the loan after graduation. He alleged that some students who were beneficiaries of student loans in other countries are committing suicide because they can not repay the loan.
He said “We, as a union also did research of countries all over the world, of people who have benefited from this loan, they were committing suicide.
Read also: Government Can No Longer Fund Universities – Tinubu
Possible Solutions to the Shortcomings of the Student Loan:
According to Prof. Osodeke, the Nigerian Government should work on the Student Loan Act. He stated that a better alternative is giving Poor Students grants instead of loans.
“This would have been better if we are giving it to those set of students who are very poor, it should be called a grant, not a loan.
