Student Loans Will Starve Public Universities Of Funds-ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said that the proposed Education Loan Scheme was a way of starving public universities of funding and a ploy to divert public funds into private universities owned by politicians and their friends.

The Union disclosed this in a statement signed by the National President (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke on Thursday after its National Executive Council meeting at the Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State.

THE WHISTLER reported earlier that ASUU has opposed the recently introduced Student Loan, alleging that it will cause psychological trauma on the beneficiaries and will also affect their performance in school negatively.

ASUU insisted that the Students Loan Scheme was being promoted by international money lending agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank would starve public universities of funding and also keep students in permanent debt.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the NEC of ASUU reiterated its rejection of the Students Loan Scheme which is being promoted by international money lending agencies such as IMF and World Bank.

“Nigerians should be aware that the scheme is a way of starving public universities of funding and a ploy to divert public funds into private universities owned by politically exposed individuals and their friends.

“NEC further observed that the students’ loan scheme will mortgage the entire university system and keep our promising students in perpetual indebtedness.

“If the scheme could fail in some better-managed economies, there is no guarantee that it will succeed in Nigeria where unbridled corruption, nepotism, and other unsavoury tendencies conspired to kill the Education Bank project after over five years of its existence,” the statement said.

ASUU stated that if the state and Federal Governments truly wished to invest in the lives of Nigerian students, grants and scholarships should be made available to students while the Needs-Based Budgeting System should be restored to the university system for greater efficiency.

The Union also condemned the huge fee hike in schools, saying funds diverted from the government’s treasuries should be used to fund universities.

“NEC condemns in its entirety the wave of fee hike without inputs from the victims across our campuses.

“Daily scandalous reports of stupendous funds diverted from government treasuries at state and Federal levels reinforce our belief that resources available to the country could support government-funded university education –without excessive pressures on parents as currently done,” it said.

While speaking on government’s delay in fulfilling its agreement, ASUU stated that if the Federal Government had kept fate with the MoU of 2013, which provided for N1.3trn over a period of six years, many universities would have been restored to a level at which they could attract foreign students and become renowned for cutting-edge and transformative research.

ASUU challenged the Tinubu administration to urgently initiate moves to conduct another needs assessment exercise to empirically verify their calls for massive intervention in the public universities.

“It was the Federal Government’s response to a similar challenge in 2012 that gave rise to the aggregate sum of N1.3 trillion which the Government has since abrogated,” the statement said.