“People Who Took Loans Never Paid”: ASUU Tells President Tinubu What to Convert Student Loan To

• The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has once again reacted to the newly signed Student Loan Act
• President Bola Tinubu signed the Student Loan Bill into law to help indigent students go through higher education
• ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, however, has called on President Tinubu to convert the loan to grant

The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has urged President Bola Tinubu to convert the newly signed Students Loans Act to grant for indigent students in the country.

President Bola Tinubu had on Monday, June 12 signed into law the Students Loans Bill to provide for interest-free loans to poor Nigerian students into tertiary institutions.

The bill was sponsored by the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, who is now the President’s Chief of Staff, Channels Television reported.

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Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme today, Osodeke said:

“This would have been better if we are giving it to those set of students who are very poor, it should be called a grant, not a loan.

“It should be called a grant since it is coming from the Federation Account and not that (after) these people have access it and when they are graduating, they have heavy loads behind them and within two years, if they don’t pay, they go to jail. That’s why we’re talking about collective bargaining, you have views from all the sides.”

People who took loans never paid, ASUU President claims

Comparing with past loan programmes by previous governments, Osodeke said the student loan is “not sustainable” and practicable.

The ASUU President said:

“The idea of student loan came in 1972 and it was in a bank established. People who took loans never paid, you can go and investigate. In 1994, 1993, the military enacted Decree 50 also set up a Students’ Loan Board. The National Assembly domesticated it in 2004 and within a year, it went off. The money disappeared. We want to see how this one will be different.”

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that President Bola Tinubu had signed the student loan bill into law. This will be the third of its kind that the new Nigerian leader has signed since his assumption of office as the president.

This was disclosed in a video shared on the President’s media page on Twitter, @ABATMediaCentre, on Monday, June 12.

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Legit.ng also reported that expectations of parents and students alike to acquire tertiary education have been high since the day President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Monday, June 12, signed the Students Loan Bill into law.

The Students Loan Bill was the third of its kind that President Tinubu had signed since assuming office on Monday, May 29.

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Nigerian students had made a list of what they expect from the administration of President Bola Tinubu after he was sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th President on Monday, May 29.

Legit.ng spoke with some Nigerian students who, among other things, urged President Tinubu to address the incessant strikes by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).