Uchechukwu Nnaike and Funmi Ogundare
Contrary to popular demand that private university students should be considered for the recently introduced students’ loan scheme, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has explained why students in private universities and convicted persons studying in correctional centres are not eligible for the loans.
He also pledged accountability and fairness, saying that his agency would eliminate all forms of personal interaction in the application, selection and disbursement processes.
Speaking at an interactive session with members of the Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN) at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Sawyerr said that though he agrees with those advocating the inclusion of private university students whose parents’ taxes form the source of the loan, the idea of the loan is the redistribution of wealth.
He explained that part of the function of any government is to try to balance society, stressing that “is one reason why we are not looking at private universities today, even though the president said we should.”
He added that if the agency decides to pay a student’s fees in a private university, it could deprive many students in public universities, whose fees are a fraction of that student’s fees, of the opportunity to get the loan.
He said it “is a social programme meant to help people at the bottom, who have no chance, no hope,” and argued that “if you are attending a private university in Nigeria, your parents can’t be poor.”
Asked if inmates of correctional centres studying in higher institutions such as the National Open University (NOUN) are qualified, Sawyerr said without stigmatising them, it would be difficult to offer loans to persons serving jail terms because they may not be able to pay back.
“We are not denying them education, but even employers will struggle to employ ex-convicts,” he stated. “We are not saying we are going to discriminate against them forever. This is a new agency; for now, we will do some positive prioritisation.”
He added that the act establishing the agency excludes convicted persons, “so even if we want to, we can’t.”
Sawyerr stated that the fund would be divided into two segments for each beneficiary: the chargeable fee, which will be paid directly to the institutions on behalf of the students, and stipends, which will go directly to the student’s personal accounts.
He added that the stipend, which is meant to support students on campus, will be calculated based on tuition and the geography of the institutions.
“NELFUND will check the applications and decide the beneficiaries. If a student isn’t selected, it is probably because the student doesn’t meet all the criteria or they have questionable records. NELFUND will start getting data when students start applying, and they will be analysed based on age, gender, and state of origin, among others,” Sawyerr said, adding that about 1.2 million young Nigerians will be selected to benefit from the first tranche of the fund.
Sawyerr noted that beneficiaries would be required to provide their Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) registration numbers, National Identification Number (NIN), and Bank Verification Number (BVN), among other details, before they can apply for the loan.
He stated that the scheme will be funded with one per cent of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) ‘s total annual collectable revenue, amounting to N194 billion if the agency meets its projection.
The Chairperson of EWAN, Mojeed Alabi, highlighted the role of journalists in reporting about the scheme and scrutinising and monitoring its processes and implementation. He also pointed out the need for NELFUND to prioritise data while raising concerns about implementing the loan scheme, from the application to the selection of beneficiaries to the disbursement and refund.
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