FG’s Student Loan, A Strategy To Enrich Private Varsity Owners – ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has criticized the Federal Government’s student loan initiative, stating that it is a plan to benefit a few individuals who own private universities.

VerseNews reports that ASUU National President, Emmanuel Osodeke, made this statement to journalists in Bauchi on the fringes of the union’s scholarship ceremony for undergraduate students in the Bauchi Zone on Saturday at the ATBU, Yelwa Campus.

Osodeke suggested that if the government genuinely intended to address funding gaps in education, it should provide grants rather than loans.

He emphasized the belief that the Nigerian state is capable of adequately funding education and pointed to instances of substantial allowances for members of the National Assembly as evidence of available resources.

He urged the government to prioritize funding education to ensure its effectiveness.

He said “Right from the start, we believe that the Nigerian state is capable of funding education in Nigeria. All these issues that have led to the introduction of the loan, the issues of charges in our universities, are a result of poor funding. So, this particular effort by the government is supposed to meet that funding gap in the universities.

“We believe that with discipline, the Nigerian state can fund education adequately. Recent happenings in the country, where, for instance, one member of the National Assembly can take just a part of his allowances would include a N160 million, is a clear sign that if the Nigerian state is serious, it can fund education.

“The leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan, I think, tried to demonstrate that, when his administration agreed to release N200 billion in 2013 as part of the NEEDS Assessment and till this day, 10 years after the release of that money, we still see what that money is doing in this system.