Private HE demands inclusion in new student loan scheme

After much delay, the Nigerian government finally took an important step towards implementing a loan scheme for higher education students after President Bola Tinubu signed the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill 2024 into law in early April. Students at private institutions, however, are excluded from the new Nigerian Education Loan Fund, or NELFUND, which has this sector outraged.

Tinubu initially signed the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act 2023 into law last June, but it was repealed and rejigged after the president asked that the scheme accommodate youths who may not want to pursue a university education but rather vocational studies. The NELFUND portal will open soon for applications.

Isiaka Gboyega, a federal lawmaker, said the government excluded students from private tertiary institutions from the loan scheme because anyone who could afford to send their ward to such an institution is not among the indigent in the country.

“For anyone who has the capacity to send their children to some of those private schools, you would agree with me that their need for a loan is probably minimal,” Gboyega told Daily Post on 4 April 2024.

But some parents said they enrolled their children in private universities, not because they are rich, but because of the sorry state of public tertiary education – the lack of research tools and housing on public campuses, and perennial strike actions by public university lecturers that can collapse learning and extend students’ study duration. Hence, the parents wondered why the government is denying their wards such a privilege.

“The fact that my child attends a private university doesn’t mean I’m rich. It’s just about sacrifice,” a parent told University World News on condition of anonymity. “Sometimes I borrow money from the bank to pay my daughter’s tuition fees. And all this is because the government has failed to manage public institutions properly. Many of them are in a sorry state today because of negligence.

“I have friends who sent their children abroad for studies, yet they have not built a single house in Nigeria. It’s a life of sacrifice for the children, it’s not necessarily because they are rich. The government must understand it is its [own] failure that led to this situation in the first place.”

Private universities ‘grossly’ marginalised

Professor Solomon Adebola, the vice-chancellor of the privately run Adeleke University in Osun State in south-western Nigeria, said private universities have been grossly marginalised in the Nigerian educational system. He said the fact that there are 147 private universities in the country, with the number still growing, shows the demand for and the relevance of private higher education.

“Unfortunately, the government that created us does not seem to understand why we are in the system. First, look at Tetfund, funded through the tax of all Nigerians. It only finances public tertiary institutions and neglects private institutions. Each time we vice-chancellors of private universities meet, we talk and talk, but the government has refused to budge.

“Go and look at the schools in the private sector. Some are struggling to exist and there is a limit to which they can rely on only tuition fees. And now, with the student loan programme, the government has edged us out again. It’s strange and I don’t know why the government is doing this to us,” Adebola told University World News.

He said there is no reason to believe all students in private universities are from rich homes, citing that, at his university, the founder placed about a quarter of the student population on full scholarships because they cannot pay.

“So, it’s wrong for the government to think all private university students have rich parents. They, too, deserve to have access to the student loan scheme. The idea of pushing them aside will make us believe we are not part of the country,” Adebola said.

Tertiary education stakeholders across the country have, in recent times, called for the inclusion of private higher education in the student loan programme to promote equal opportunities for all Nigerian students. Among the prominent voices was that of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, who urged the government to listen to the calls and take action, Tribune Online reported on 22 April 2024.

Scheme redistributes wealth

NELFUND Managing director Akintunde Sawyerr explained at a recent meeting with education stakeholders that the scheme aims to help underprivileged students.

“Though President Bola Tinubu believes the fund is for all Nigerians, some factors contributed to [our] not considering including students in private institutions as beneficiaries for now. We must understand that the scheme is a means to redistribute wealth to balance society. We have to also know that it is a social programme meant to help in the education of the poor. It is a social scheme meant to help the people at the lower cadre,” Sawyerr said in a news report in Vanguard on 17 April 2024.

“It is generally taken that, if your child attends a private university, you may not be seen as poor. Apart from this, if the tuition fee in a private university is, say, NGN2 million [about US$1,447], you can imagine how many students in a public university such an amount can take care of. Yes, parents of students in private schools also pay taxes, but we have to consider the impact of giving as many people as possible access to tertiary education,” Sawyerr said.