There is then the question of what if the student beneficiary of such a loan is more interested in beginning a startup immediately after his “passing out” from the NYSC? How will the authorities seek to ascertain what he actually earns? Will the 10 percent monthly deduction also work out in this scenario? Now, given the numerous challenges experienced by startups and in this country where startup failures are at the gloomy range of 61 percent, how then will the government ensure a seamless recovery of such loans? I hope Asiwaju’s policy advisers have really thought this through.
Lastly, there is also the story in the air that the government intends to hike tuition fees, matter of fact, a number of state and federal universities have since the coming of the Student Loan Act have increased their fees by 100, 200 and 300% respectively with many pundits linking the ugly increases to the signing of the bill! There is the notion also that the Tinubu administration is tilting towards granting autonomy towards the Nigerian university system, after all he had made such a promise in one of his campaign hustings. Perhaps the university system is reacting to the president’s body language since it is alleged that most governments no longer subsidize their university education system once there is the option of student loans.
Schools like the University of Benin, my Alma Mater did announce a 100% tuition fee increment following the signing of the Student Loan Act by President Bola Tinubu. Under the administration of Professor Lilian Salami, students from the sciences will cough out
N190,000 as against N73,000 paid last year. For the non sciences the fees will shoot up to N170,000 against N69,000.
If these fee increments from the University of Benin are heartbreaking then that of the Ambrose Alli University,AAU in Ekpoma, Edo State, a state government institution is enough to stir up a series of revolts until some of these University administrators are disgraced out of office. How in God’s name is such an administrator who on a daily basis experiences the hardships faced on a per minute basis expect a student who once paid 185,000 to now pay the sum of N741,500 as while medical students would be paying N638,000 as against N216,000 because of the increment? This is ludicrous and it seems that those in charge of these universities, persons who benefited from subsidized, if not free education no longer want the children of the poor and even the middle class to attain a university education in Nigeria.
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I am then forced to suggest that if the Student Loan Act is a precursor to the sordid conspiracy to keep millions of Nigerians out of school then it has only succeeded in worsening the nation’s present predicament and here’s why! While there is no cap on the amount a student can access , does it now make any sense for a student to access a loan to see him or herself through school while those who are not entitled to such loans now have to pay more! It’s like robbing both Audu and Daudu and defeats the purpose of the Act which is access to tertiary education. Remember, those who can access the loan are those who can prove that their family income per annum is less than 500,000 , now how can a family who’s annual income is say about 1,000,000 meet up with payments into a school like Ambrose Alli, where a law student is expected to pay over half a million for a session, this is like the situation where one is between the devil and the deep blue sea. Now, I know that serial optimists and Sugar Candy Mountain advocates will attack such a thinking and suggest that there are other universities for which the candidate can apply to, definitely but have these optimists noted the fact that there would be a marked increase in the number of candidates vying for university spaces?
Again, given the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of the Naira both policies in the short term will bring to bear heightened inflationary pressures, thus reducing the spending power of even families with over 500,000. Couple this with the increases in tertiary education fees and we will be courting more problems than we are presently attempting to fixing.
In concluding, the Student Loan Act on its own remains a viable policy and should help resolve the challenges of those who are indeed presently incapable of attaining such on their own. However, it must fix the many challenges set out in these twofold series as well as do away with the issue of university autonomy for the time being and the sharp increases in tuition fees, since both would be akin to scoring a goal and an own goal at the same time .
