Prof. Benjamin Chukwu Ozumba, Nigeria’s sole representative at the Africa Regional Conference on Student Loan Scheme and Tertiary Education matters in Malawi and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, praised President Bola Tinubu’s review of the Student Loan Act as a courageous step in the right direction.
He reacted to President Tinubu’s promise to make education more affordable for all and provide loans to higher education students in need.
Prof. Ozumba emphasized that Nigeria is steadily progressing towards recognizing education as a fundamental right and stressed the significance of student loans in liberalizing tertiary education.
Student Loan Penalty
The Former Vice Chancellor who said the 2year jail term penalty was not in the report he submitted to the Federal Ministry of Education in 2018, decry the clause saying if an 80percent of the beneficiaries refund the money to the government it would be a win-win situation for both the government and the students.
He hailed the government for removing the clause which earlier stated that a student seeking to access the loan should present a government official in the Director cadre.
Ozumba pointed out that setting a particular income limit as a pre-requisite for accessing the loan was unrealizable.
He stressed that with the realities on the ground, it is practically difficult to find who is not poor now in Nigeria.
Removal Of Obstacles
In his words, “The clause if you do not repay the loan you will go to jail for 2 years was never in the memo I submitted after the conference, I had stated that right away that if a student has money they pay back and if such student who has benefitted doesn’t have the money they don’t pay.
“But it has now been restated better that if a student has the opportunity to pay they do and if they don’t have they don’t pay.
“But by the other method, it means that they want to send the best of our youths to prison, that every aspect of that law should be deleted.
“how many Nigerians have civil service Directors as relations and with the inflation and the rest how do people keep up with these clauses, poverty bracket in Nigeria has expanded and increased so much now.
“That aspect of getting a Director to stand as a guarantor before you can get a loan simply means even me as a Former Vice-chancellor if I had to get this loan for any member of my family and If I do not have a Director to present it means we won’t get the loan until we get a Director to bring.
“They also said you have to be somewhat poor and I asked what is the income of an average Nigerian, with an income of less than N400,000 a month that means I might not be able to get the loan so who then is qualified to access this loan.
“I am happy with the rethink of the President on the Student Loan Act it is now better done.”
Prof Ozumba called for the use of advanced technology in monitoring the beneficiaries of the loan saying through Artificial intelligence, social media and others the government would keep hold of anybody at anywhere.
“People worry about absconding with the loan but I believe with technologies such as the AI, social media which can be used to keep hold of anybody anywhere.”
Interest In Student Loan
Prof. Ozumba said there should be minimal interest to provide enough funds for the scheme.
He said with minimum interest the government will not lose and the students also will not complain.
Student Loan In Other Countries
The Former Vice-chancellor of UNN cited instances in Australia and Botswana where students do not pay at all to get tertiary education.
He also disclosed that Malaysia introduced student loans over the years but now, the country has withdrawn the loan following the abilities of most of the students to pick up their bills.
“I have studied student loans in other countries and I discovered that you don’t worry about payback even if 80percent of the students pay you have had enough.
“There is no pushing of saying that government must guarantee you a job, no, how about getting the loan and you get a job with the World Bank or the UN you will still pay it back.”
Prof. Ozumba added that with the available opportunity to access Tertiary education, the youths should be able to create jobs.
“The government is giving you education then you should be able to create a job.”
He called on the government to involve experts in the implementation of the student loan act and also in its management.
Recall that in a live broadcast address to Nigerians on Monday 31st of July 23, President Bola Tinubu pledged to fulfil his promise to make education more affordable to all and provide loans to higher education students who may need them.
He also said that No Nigerian student will have to abandon his or her education because of lack of money.
The Student Loan Act
Section 23 of the Act further clarifies that “institutions of higher learning” means public universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and vocational schools established by the government.
Also, to be eligible, an applicant’s income or family income must be less than N500,000 per annum.
Students must also provide at least two guarantors, each of whom must either be a civil servant of at least level 12, a lawyer with at least 10 years post-call experience, or a judicial officer, or a justice of peace.
The student loan act is to provide easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.
On June 12, 2023, President Bola Tinubu signed the Student Loan (Access to Higher Education) Bill into law.
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