The Federal Government's student loan program has drawn criticism from the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Calabar Zone, which views it as a scheme to enslave Nigerian students and force them to be indebted to the nation forever.
On the first day of the application process, 3,764 students from 126 colleges submitted their applications, according to The PUNCH.
According to the Federal Government, the goal of the effort was to guarantee that no young Nigerian would be denied a higher education because of a lack of funding.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, ASUU Zonal Chairperson Dr. Happiness Uduk maintained that the student loan was a scheme to enslave young people in Nigeria.
According to Uduk, it was depressing that those who had previously benefited from meal subsidies, bursary awards, and school scholarships were now imposing student loans.
Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the National President of ASUU, has also frequently criticized student loans, arguing that the government should instead provide bursaries to students.
According to Uduk, it was depressing that those who had previously benefited from meal subsidies, bursary awards, and school scholarships were now imposing student loans.
Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the National President of ASUU, has also frequently criticized student loans, arguing that the government should instead provide bursaries to students.
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He maintained that the tertiary institutions would see a favorable reversal as a result of this action.
"It is depressing that the same people who ran our economy in the past are now in charge of it," Uduk stated. "They received bursary awards, free laundry services, meal subsidies, and school scholarships."
"Their children receive scholarships to the top foreign colleges in the world, but after draining our economy, they impose a crippling student loan on the children of taxpayers, who will be forced into slavery and incur a lifelong debt to the nation. They don't care about the scheme's disastrous effects on the nation, which include depression, suicide, and a staggering loss of intellectual talent.
"In light of this, we strongly oppose the concept of education loans and make it abundantly evident that utilizing the funds to support higher education will result in a favorable change of circumstances that will enable our institutions to become self-sufficient, providing heavily subsidized tertiary education in Nigeria."
The ASUU chairperson urged the Federal Government to hold new negotiations and call a committee to review the agreement reached by the ASUU leadership and the government committee led by Prof. Nimi Brigs. The committee's goal is to make necessary adjustments to the document to reflect the current state of the economy and provide an acceptable salary structure for university lecturers.
She also denounced the haphazard growth of universities in Nigeria without sufficient funding from the federal and state governments, pointing out that the 2020 ASUU-FGN Memorandum of Action, which emphasized the necessity of revising the NUC Act to strengthen its ability to halt the excessive and careless founding of universities, should be fully carried out.
We implore the administration of President Tinubu to build on the already-existing universities rather than creating more of them. Not glorified schools, but institutions with the necessary resources and authority to tackle Nigeria's problems, is what we need, the speaker stated.
We implore the administration of President Tinubu to build on the already-existing universities rather than creating more of them. Not glorified schools, but institutions with the necessary resources and authority to tackle Nigeria's problems, is what we need, the speaker stated.
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