One of the policies of the present administration that is so far impactful but quietly and systematically executed is the student loan scheme. This scheme was launched by the federal government in May, 2024 with the basic aim of assisting indigent students to meet their financial obligations by way of tuition fees, charges and upkeeps while studying in tertiary academic institutions as well as vocational and skills acquisition institutions within Nigeria.
The scheme was established under the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Repeal and Re-enactment Act, 2024. Although there was an initial Act passed in 2023 to trigger the establishment of a fund for that purpose and actualize the same objective, that Act suffered so many afflictions to the extent that it was abandoned and that necessitated the repeal and re-enactment of the present Act.
As remarked above, the objective of the scheme is to essentially relieve parents and students of the burden of meeting their financial obligations during the course of study. It is certainly no news that the economy of Nigeria is not smiling to anyone in recent times. The consequence of this is that so many parents still struggle to meet the basic obligations of survival such as housing, food, shelter and health. Thus, while striving to meet these basic needs, the issue of education of their children has over time become secondary. Many students of tertiary institutions across Nigeria, as a result of the harsh economic situation which results from systemic failure of many years, have had to drop out of school as they could not meet up their financial obligations. Even where the States or some other philanthropic organizations and individuals attempt to bridge the gap, most times, the offers are grossly inadequate to meet the required amount to meet such financial obligations. The amount often offered by other government or private scholarship schemes are inadequate to meet the basic tuition fees, much less the upkeeps.
Besides, the number of students that can benefit from the schemes is not only negligible, but the process is often not transparent enough to cover the best and genuine students. In the circumstances, most of the indigent students have had to struggle to bridge the lacunae through all manner of part-time awkward and menial jobs that ultimately end up distracting them from the focus on their studies. This accounts for why a sizable number of the highly intelligent lot of them ends up performing woefully in their examinations, while striving to sustain themselves in the course of study.
The further consequence of this, which is not noticeable, is that some of the young ladies in this precarious situation end up being exploited by men who pretend to be philanthropic towards them. A lot of them has been, in the process, psychologically damaged and sexually abused in the struggle to get educated. In the same vein, some parents have gone a-borrowing under excruciating circumstances that they hardly survive ultimately. In fact, and indeed, they collapse under the burden of such debts. At times, you wonder why area boys and other miscreants continue to fester in our society, ignoring this contributor which seems not to be obvious to our leaders. The drop-outs are a veritable source of the menace. At times when some of these things happen, we are unable to locate them appropriately due to our pedestrian approach to most issues. That accounted for the delay in the reactivation of this scheme over the years.
Beyond all the above, I can imagine the number of innocent citizens that are burdened with the request for financial support to meet the financial obligations of indigent students while they are still grappling with their own challenges. For those that have experienced this, or are still experiencing it, they will tell you how burdensome this could be. I recall that at a point, I had to dedicate an edition of this column to the debilitating effect of the unending or unrelenting demands ( See my column in the Daily Sun of 15th December 2022 “Ediye N Laagun https://www.sunnewsonline.com/ediye-n-laagun-2/” ). I recall saying that if the giver is not careful, he would join the bandwagon of the afflicted as captured in the Yoruba proverb that, olowo kan larin otosi mewa, otosi ni gbogbo won which literally means a single rich man in the community of the indigent is also an indigent.
With the introduction of the student’s loan scheme, a substantial number of the demands of that nature are gradually reducing as all we have had to say now is, apply for the student’s loan. This is not however to say that we are completely absolved of the trauma as we have continued to be confronted with the demands of the post-graduate students who are presently excluded from the scheme as well as that of secondary school students whose parents could not meet their financial needs. It is however still a big relief to some of us affected by the deluge of demands in that respect.
While it is part of the mandate of the government to improve the welfare of the people, including the students, pursuant to the constitutional dictate, not so much has been done in the past for the students. In fact, the plight of Nigerian students has continued to worsen over time. It is in this wise that I salute this intervention of the government. Statistics from the website of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) reveals that as at date many students of most tertiary institutions in Nigeria have benefited from the scheme. In fact, about 297 tertiary institutions are active participants already.
The total sum of N152,033,129,225 has so far been captured by way of demands , and accruable to the successful applicants for the loans and which has been uploaded, with the decomposition being N49,216,291,025 payable to the educational institutions as tuition and other charges and the sum of N102, 817, 680,000 for upkeep payable to the student beneficiaries. Out of the total number of 533,970 students that has registered, 85 percent of them, amounting to 458, 018 have successfully applied.
The actual disbursements however as at 25th March, 2025 is N29,863,433,649.40 as institutional fees, N15,239,540,000.00 as upkeep allowance, making the total amount disbursed already to be N45,102,973,649.40. Just as I was forwarding this discourse to the publisher, I stumbled on a news item on social media regarding the controversy surrounding the actual receipt of payments by the students and institutions. Consequent upon that, I conducted my investigation and discovered that the allegation against some of the tertiary institutions in terms of fraudulent application of the fund by way of denial, and the unwholesome demand on the students, is largely true.
The unfolding scenario is that while funds are disbursed to the institutions, management of the institutions often deny receipt while compelling students to remit other payments. Such fund is now kept in interest-yielding accounts for personal benefits of members of management. This is being unveiled and I hope that decisive actions shall be taken against the perpetrators. I wonder when Nigerians will allow a system to work without sabotaging the same. The impression given hitherto, which some Nigerians have bought, is that disbursements are only made upon access to funds from the government. But for the timely exposure of the iniquity being perpetrated by some of the tertiary institutions, I would have flown with the impression of delay in the disbursement of funds to the student applicants.
All impairments to immediate disbursements must be dismantled to enable utilization of the fund within the academic period it is meant for. While still commending the efficiency of the management of the fund, I still will urge continuous improvement of the system so as to continuously uproot whatever might be hindering immediate availability of funds.
The government needs to prioritize the needs of these students that have successfully applied, the number of which is growing daily. The truth is that whatever that is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. Students need to take benefit of the fund while crucially needed and not when the demand for it has become spent. The hope of the students need not be unnecessarily raised after successfully applying and the funding gap becomes a challenge.
As soon as the request is approved, disbursement must be virtually immediate. The good news, however, about the scheme lies in the way and manner it is structured so far, in that it is largely insulated from the ‘Nigerian factors’. In other words, the applicant need not know any one before accessing the loan. There is no need for influence to be deployed before you can access the loan or get recommended for it. This is therefore appearing so far to be an exception to the general rule in the country. It is hoped that all sectors will emulate and strive to ensure that such insulation is applicable to them. The design of the system is equally friendly and not tortuous as in other systems that traumatize users. It is neither cumbersome nor complex. To this extent, I commend the management of NELFUND under the leadership of Akintunde Sawyer once again for enabling a system that is functional.
As much as I cherish and commend this initiative now, not so much, in terms of impact on the quality of our tertiary education, can be made without the university autonomy. Except the university enjoys such freedom, there will remain the challenges that are afflicting the institutions currently. For instance, the dilapidated infrastructures in the various higher institutions need to be improved upon while the deficit in their availability needs to be bridged.
This cannot be achieved without adequate funding of the tertiary institutions which certainly the governments at all levels cannot afford. Each university needs to be availed the liberty to charge appropriate fees adequate to their needs while the economy is worked upon to enable parents to be able to meet the obligations attendant to their wards’ efforts to acquire quality and qualitative education.
This will equally enable the higher institutions to be able to recruit quality lecturers and other staff than what is obtainable currently. This will also promote healthy competition amongst the tertiary institutions. In the absence of qualitative funding of education, there is no way our society can record the kind of progress we all desire. There is no way our graduates can be qualitatively employed and compete favourably with their counterparts in other parts of the world. While it is certain that we have the population of youth that can propel us into a prosperous future, such a huge population of youth can easily become a liability and dangerous encumbrance where they are not trained and prepared to be beneficial to the society in future.
The experience of Nigeria in the northern parts where uneducated youths have become willing tools in the recruitment industry of terrorism; the experience in the southern parts of the country where less engaged youths have turned themselves into criminals of different shades and dangerous capacities, have shown that we need to take our future seriously. The government still has a long way to go despite the current improvement as shown via the student loan scheme. There are so many other areas calling for intervention without which our structures are liable to be victims of internal disintegration and self-annihilation.
The point being made is that the entire fabrics of the educational system is a chain that needs to be holistically treated always. I, therefore, urge that intervention such as this must always be integrated into the overall goal of our educational system. Enough of operating in silos. This is my counsel.
Dr Banire is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN and former Lagos State Commissioner for Transport and the Environment.