As Nigeria grapples with ongoing crises in its tertiary education sector, stakeholders have raised their views on whether the recently signed Student Loan Act by President Bola Tinubu will be the ultimate solution to improving access to higher education for the less privileged.
At a symposium held in Lagos, Akinbode Oluwafemi, the Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), emphasized that the key to resolving education challenges in Nigeria lies in strong political commitment to prioritizing the sector as a vital factor for socio-economic development. While the Student Loan Act appears to promise increased access to public higher education by offering interest-free tuition loans to indigent students, Oluwafemi revealed that a closer examination of the Act's details raises concerns.
The loan criteria, according to Oluwafemi, may ironically limit support to the very students it aims to assist. The Act currently covers only tuition fees and imposes requirements such as providing two guarantors – a civil servant of grade 12 and a lawyer with at least 10 years of experience, among others. CAPPA believes that this policy could further marginalize vulnerable groups, especially indigent students.
Achike Chude, Deputy Chairman at Joint Action Font (JAF), viewed the Act as a signal that the government is abdicating its responsibility towards tertiary education and might eventually sell off public universities to political-business cohorts. He expressed concerns that the elites are not concerned about education for the general populace but primarily for their own children and wards, fearing that educated and politically conscious citizens might demand accountability.
Adelaja Odukoya, a senior lecturer at the University of Lagos and zonal coordinator of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), criticized the Act, stating that it would take education out of reach for the poor despite its claim of expanding access to higher education.
Gideon Adeyeni, spokesperson for the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), faulted the Act for lacking public engagement before its enactment, stressing that education is a social right. He argued that lawmakers should have engaged stakeholders in a public dialogue before drafting the policy.
CAPPA's Policy and Research Officer, Zikora Ibeh, expressed the group's firm belief that funding public education is the government's social responsibility, rejecting any attempts to privatize education. CAPPA fears that the loan scheme could inadvertently lead to increased tuition costs and promote for-profit schools, thereby undermining affordable and quality education.
In light of these concerns, CAPPA called for the repeal of the Student Loan Act and the transformation of the education bank into a special intervention vehicle for granting grants and bursaries to deserving indigent students in public tertiary institutions. Additionally, CAPPA urged the federal government to increase budgetary allocation to education, enhance accountability in utilizing the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and other intervention programs, and embark on a revitalization program to improve infrastructure in public higher learning institutions. This includes upgrading classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and ICT facilities to ensure the delivery of quality education in Nigeria.
