Federal and State governments have been urged to cut down cost of governance and channel it to education thereby improving the standard of education in the Country.
The Executive Director, CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi stated that while the policy on the surface, promises to increase access to public higher education by providing indigent students with interest-free tuition loans, there exist barriers to those at the low ebb to assess the proposed student loan.
Akinbode argued that the student loan scheme if allowed to stand, would further marginalize vulnerable groups, particularly those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Giving an overview of the Students Loan Act, the Policy/Research Officer, CAPPA, Zikora Ibeh described it as war on education. “The Act was hurriedly drafted without considering the present reality. We reject the Act and urge government to discard it,” Ibeh said.
Ibeh also recommended higher funding for education and ensuring greater accountability and efficient utilization of TETFUND and other intervention programme of the government.
Student Loans Scheme, according to the Zonal Coordinator, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Professor Adelaja Odukoya is a failure of governance.
“Poor funding of education is so bad, as I speak we lose lecturers in University of Lagos (Unilag) every week. There are many faculties or Depts that don’t even have up to 5 lecturers, our universities are in shambles,” Odukoya lamented.
“The Scheme is a scam as we have seen the collapse of other similar schemes in the past such as the Students Loan Board of Nigeria Education Bank. From that time till now, corruption has gotten to an unprecedented level” theDeputy Chairman, Joint Action Front (JAF), Jude Achike said.
Source: The Nation
