The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has made a strong case for the amendment of the Student Loan Act which was recently signed in to law by the President.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that President Bola Tinubu had sometime in June signed the student loan bill into law.
The bill, which was sponsored by former House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, was designed to address the financial challenges faced by young Nigerians in accessing higher-quality education.
Speaking at the legislative summit on student loans and access to higher education, organised by the house ad hoc committee in Abuja on Thursday, NANS president, Usman Barambu called for the inclusion of student representation on the board.
He also called for the inclusion of polytechnics and colleges of education on the board instead of only the National University Commission (NUC) which was earlier captured.
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‘Student loans are for us yet there is no student representation on the board. The board only captured NUC sidelining the polytechnic and colleges of education, which should all be included for fairness and equity.
‘Most students will not be able to find their ground financially two years after graduation, therefore, the payment method should be revised to four to five years.
‘Forgiveness should also be considered in cases of death.’
In another report, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed concerns over the non-release of almost eight months’ salaries of university academics withheld on account of its 2022 strike action.
According to a statement signed by the ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke, this is one of the many issues affecting the Nigerian University System (NUS) as discussed by the union during its National Executive Council meeting at the University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Borno State from Saturday 19th to Sunday 20th August 2023.
He said that the ASUU NEC reiterated that ‘the application of the anti-labour ‘No-Work-No-Pay’ policy to academics ignores the indisputable facts that (i) only the teaching component of academics’ work was suspended during the strike action, and (ii) with the suspension of the strike through interventions by the then Hon. Speaker of Federal House of Representatives (now Chief of Staff to Mr. President and Visitor to Federal Universities), Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, and other well-meaning Nigerians, the academics have made up for the lost ground under the most excruciating economic conditions’.
The union commended Nigerian academics for their courage, resilience, and determination to weather through the economic, social, and emotional storms unleashed on them due to their unpaid salaries.