ASUU not in support of signed student loan bill – Bolarin

Some key members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are not applauding the student loan Act recently signed by President Bola Tinubu.

Some of these tertiary education workers think student loans are not feasible in Nigeria.

Gbolahan Bolarin, ASUU chairperson of the Federal University of Technology, Minna chapter condemned the student loan bill signed into law by the president.

Bolarin in his statement disclosed that the law is not feasible as the peculiarities of Nigeria were not considered before signing the bill into law.

The ASUU chapter leader maintained that the problem with the country is that the leadership wants to replicate what they see in some other countries without giving any consideration to what is obtainable in Nigeria.

“The problem in Nigeria is that we copy policies from other countries and want to replicate them in our country without considering the situation here. Where are the jobs in Nigeria?

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There are graduates from over 20 years ago who are still jobless. Now the thing about this scheme is that as you repay, another person gets access to the loan,” he said.

The lecturer expressed worries that it may be difficult for students who obtain the loan to pay back due to the high unemployment rate in the country and the awful remuneration.

The FUTMinna union leader explained that ASUU stood against the bill from its commencement because the scheme is not feasible nor sustainable and therefore, dead on arrival.

“Now that the scheme will provide N1 million per year, suppose a student comes to FUTMinna and stays for five years. That means you will receive N5m; what is the guarantee that you will get a job to pay it back? As of today, the minimum wage is N30,000. Is it feasible?

From the beginning, ASUU fought against it because of these issues. There are no two ways about it; this scheme is not going to be sustainable.

You can see universities hiking fees, more universities will do this because governing councils of schools are looking for ways to fund schools; before you know it, the level of enrolment in public universities will be reduced,” he noted.