Last Updated on May 31, 2024 by Timileyin Awogbade
The portal for loan applications launched last Friday, marking the formal launch of the Federal Government student loan program.
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.
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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In a statement co-signed by the eight union chairs, Uduk said that the Federal Government ought to provide higher education with subsidies rather than loans.
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.
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.
The ASUU Calabar Zone asked the FG to use collective bargaining as soon as possible to end the social debate on the ongoing minimum wage negotiations. They claimed that doing so would decrease the intrusive decline in Nigerians’ socioeconomic lives.
Timileyin Awogbade
Timileyin Awogbade is a journalist, seasoned copywriter, expert editor, and experienced content creator at Dailylight Channel with over 5 years of experience in writing, content strategy, and SEO.