THE National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on the federal government to reduce the high cost of education rather than the loan scheme introduced to students.
This was stated by the association’s senate president, Henry Okuomo on Friday, September 6, in an interview on Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily.
According to Okuomo, it will be more profitable to Nigerian students if the cost of education is reduced as against loans which might not be paid back as a result of the high rate of unemployment in the country.
“Apart from the loan, we propose that instead of giving loans to the students, the government should reduce the cost of education.
“They should bring down the cost being paid by tertiary institutions to between N20,000 and N50,000. This will allow anybody to be able to access education if the fee is affordable. But now, even with the loan that they are giving us, we do not know the modalities for repayment,” he stated.
He added that they are not aware of anyone that has benefitted from the loan scheme, but rather those that could not get it after applying for it.
“For now, we don’t know who the beneficiaries of those loans are. We don’t know those who have applied for the loans and the modalities of getting the loans because it is not even accessible to some students.
“We know those who have tried getting the loans but couldn’t get it. We have reached out to NELFUND on the issue but haven’t been able to get feedback,” he said.
The ICIR reports that President Bola Tinubu signed the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2024, into law on Wednesday, April 3, following approval by the senate on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
Although the Act is touted to ease access to tertiary education for Nigerian students, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) described it as an attempt by the government to abandon funding education in public universities.
Multimedia journalist covering Entertainment and Foreign news