Students under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), on Monday, blocked the ever-busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to protest against the alleged misappropriation of N100 billion allocated to the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFund) by the Federal Government.
The protest, stagged in the neighbourhood of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Camp, Moowe, Ogun State led to the blockage of both sides of the expressways, resulting in heavy traffic gridlock as the vehicular movements on both sides of the expressway was brought to a halt for more than one hour.
All pleas by security agencies, particularly the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) from the Mowe Division, CSP Afeniforo Folake for the protesting students to leave the expressway fell on deaf ears.
Addressing newsmen, NANS National Vice President, Inter-Campus and Gender Affairs and the Ogun State Chairman of of the association, Akinbodunse Sileola Felicia and Gabriel Abiola Francis, respectively explained that the choice of the Lagos- Ibadan expressway was to impress President Bola Tinubu to take decisive action on the alleged graft discovered in the disbursement of student loans.
The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and Related Offences (ICPC) had in a statement by its spokesperson, Demola Bakare last Thursday, said the anti-graft agency had launched a comprehensive investigation into discrepancies in the NELFund student loan disbursements.
Bakare added that the probe followed reports implicating 51 tertiary institutions in unauthorised deductions of N3,500 to N30,000 from students’ institutional fees funded by NELFund.
While the federal government reportedly allocated N100 billion, only N28.8 billion reached students, leaving N71.2 billion unaccounted for.
But speaking with journalists during the protest on Monday, Gabriel decried “the gross misconduct and humongous corruption” in the disbursement of education loans to students, calling for a presidential probe into the alleged financial recklessness.
He disclosed that the student body had earlier rang the alarm bell and called the attention of the President and the appropriate anti-graft agencies to the alleged unethical practice in the disbursement of the student loans.
He however, expressed dismay that such a laudable initiative by the incumbent administration under the leadership of President Tinubu, to make life easier for the common students has been corrupted and smeared by the so-called “Nigerian factor”.
“Receiving news of the unspeakable atrocities and financial complicity by those saddled with the responsibility of disbursing the student loans, however, instigated NANS to mobilise and block the ever-busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, to call on the president to initiate a clinical probe into the NELFund activities since establishment.
“We demand that the presidency should take it upon itself to launch a massive investigation into these financial discrepancies and mismanagement of the fund earmarked for the loan.
“If out of the N100billon released to fund the student loan, N71.2billion cannot be accounted for, that is a huge and stark graft that must be investigated accordingly.
“As a student body, we, hereby, call President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to take charge and ensure that anyone found culpable in the unethical practices is made to face the music.
“The president should not hesitate to wield the big stick and sanction the erring officials accordingly, irrespective of who is involved. No one should be treated as a sacred cow in this matter, which to us is a national disaster and international embarrassment for our nation.
“Furthermore, we demand that the ICPC should publish the names of the 51 tertiary institutions involved in the unauthorized deductions from the institutional fees funded by NELFund. This is to know the identity of institutions sabotaging efforts put in place to ameliorate the financial burden of our members.
“To us, such tertiary institutions are enemies of progress and anti-student, hence, NANS will not hesitate to declare them perona non grata.
“The blocking of this expressway is not to cause pains for motorists and commuters deliberately, but to goad Mr President into taking decisive action on this anomaly, anathema and wanton corruption going on in NELFund,” he said.
NANS further called on the President not to sit idly, “knowing that the milk formula of the baby his administration birthed is being gulped down by the wet nurses and custodians he put in charge to feed the baby.
“NANS shall not rest on its oars until it sees that justice is served on this matter. We will continue to mobilise our members across the country to vociferously condemn this act of sabotage and brazen corruption”.
