After many years in the doldrums, the students loan scheme is about to come back to life. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu gave this rekindled hope as he signed into law a bill on the subject that was passed by the 9th National Assembly. It must be noted that the students loan scheme is not new in the country. There used to be a Students Loans Board in the 1970s and 80s.
That board, like all good things in Nigeria, died due to corruption and the injection of politics into what is, essentially, a social welfare policy designed to grant indigent students access to funding they desperately need to pursue their tertiary education aspirations. Another contributory factor to the eclipse of that scheme was unemployment as students who accessed the facility were not in a position to satisfy their own side of the deal due to no fault of theirs.
As this newspaper commends the President for his forthrightness on this matter of utmost importance to the nation’s human capital development, we also rejoice with the students on this legal document that has been made policy by the Tinubu administration in the hope that it will not be bugged down by the nuisance that is often dismissed as the Nigerian factor.
It is pertinent to observe that indigency is a phenomenon that has no religious, ethnic or tribal affiliation. It rarely understands politics. For those inflicted by this malaise, the only language that makes sense to them is the type Tinubu has just spoken. It is in this regard that we are compelled to urge the President to march his words with action in terms of providing the needed logistics and funding that will immediately activate the policy with the overarching desire to provide a reprieve to that class of students who had, before now, been denied higher education because their families are not in a financial position to do anything about it.
It is from this perspective, therefore, that we are persuaded to also appeal to the President to ensure that his noble intents in fast-tracking the signing of this bill into law is not sacrificed on the altar of partisan politics and other mundane considerations. He must put mechanisms in place to prevent the policy from becoming another “trader moni” that was known to be a vote buying gimmick that concentrated on either members of the ruling party, their families and friends or used to lure uncommitted voters to the net.
As we pointed out earlier, part of the reason why the students loan board faded away was because, in addition to corruption and the injection of politics, the level of default on the part of beneficiaries was high indeed. The default, we dare to emphasise, was generated by the inability of the students, now graduates, to secure the kind of employment that could have served as enablement to repaying the loans.
The argument of this newspaper, then, is that the President must see the urgent need to rebuild the economy so that those who access the loan can secure jobs on graduation and be able to meet their obligations to the scheme in terms of repaying what they owe. That, in our view, is one of the ways the scheme can hope to be a success.
On the part of the students, it is necessary to stress that the loan must not be seen as political settlement because it is not. One other way of ensuring that more people benefit from the policy is for beneficiaries to demonstrate goodwill and repay the loans that gave their educational aspirations a kiss of life.
According to section 17 of the Act, for a student to be eligible for the loan, that applicant must satisfy the following conditions. They must have gained admission into accredited institutions; the applicant’s individual or family income must not exceed N500,000 per annum; each applicant must provide a minimum of two guarantors.
As a newspaper, we are excited by some of the conditions that may make an applicant ineligible for the Loan. Some of these conditions include previous loan default; exam malpractice; conviction of felony or offenses of dishonesty or fraud; drug related offenses; parental loan default. These disqualification criteria ensure that the loan is allocated to students who meet the necessary ethical standards and have a genuine commitment to their academic pursuits.
Interestingly, the Act made provisions for the repayment procedure which should commence two years after completion of the National Youth Service Corps programme. In addition, repayment is to be facilitated through a direct deduction of 10 per cent of the beneficiary’s salary at source by the employer. The deducted amount will be credited to the Fund.
To avoid any inclination to willfully default, in the event of a job change, beneficiaries are required to notify the chairman of the committee responsible for the administration scheme within 30 days of resuming employment with the new employer, providing details of the new job. For self-employed beneficiaries they will be required to remit 10 per cent of their total monthly profit to the Fund. They must also submit relevant information, such as business name, address, location, registration documents (if applicable), bank details, partner names, and director/shareholder names, to the committee within 60 days indicating this status.
The Act stated clearly that any individual who defaults on the provisions of subsection (5) or aids in such default commits an offense and, upon conviction, is liable to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of two years, or both.
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