THE STUDENT LOAN LAW THIS TIME

The recently signed legislation to facilitate lending for higher education pursuits can succeed if properly executed, writes Monday Philips Ekpe

The first few weeks of President Bola Tinubu as the leader of the federal republic could well go down as Nigeria’s most eventful of all such periods in its history. That he chose this time to endorse a law which has the potential to significantly enhance the quality of higher education here may also be a pointer to the dawn of a promising era. Rolling out the drums now would, of course, be totally off track. What the Student Loan Act 2023 deserves immediately is a favourable reception by all well-meaning Nigerians. Expressing concerns, many of which are credible, should flow from facts and a sense of responsibility too. Simple reason: a chunk of what becomes of our corporate wellbeing depends largely on the state of the institutions of higher learning. No country can truly outperform the quality of its educational facilities and their outputs. And since the upper tier is fed by the elementary and secondary levels, they can only be ignored at the risk of sabotaging the very foundations of learning.

Central to the Act is funding especially as it relates to the ability of young Nigerians whose parents and guardians may lack the capacity to sponsor their academic pursuits. Time can be cruel to the plight of such persons who would likely become victims of waning interest, clouded vision and dwindling opportunities. Prompt and sufficient or manageable financing could be all that is required to put them on the right lane and achieve personal aspirations and an equitable development of society.

“Subject to the provisions of any other enactment, all students seeking higher education in any public institution of higher learning in Nigeria shall have an equal right to access the loans under this Act without any discrimination arising from gender, religion, tribe, position or disability of any kind,” Section Two boldly declares. Respectable advanced schooling everywhere on earth is about money. Simple. Nothing about it is cheap. It’s either the government bears the full weight, subsidises it or some other entity foots it. In stronger economies and better planned and managed countries, conscious efforts are made to remove the burden of the lower rungs of education from the citizens. When it comes to the higher ones, however, the beneficiaries in particular grab their own destinies head on by being directly accountable for the decision to obtain degrees and diplomas. There’s no free lunch, after all. Payment is inevitable, one way or the other. But, ultimately, if knowledge acquisition is left to the vagaries of demand and supply, to access to money, people with the related deficiency would be excluded. Where then is social justice? Besides, the consequences for the affected individuals and nation are usually costly.

Making the Act work for the vulnerable and general good should, therefore, be the preoccupation of key stakeholders, instead of amplifying real and imagined hurdles to the point of strangling the initiative altogether. To be clear, this is not Nigeria’s first official attempt at lending indigent students money to prosecute their educational dreams. In 1972, the General Yakubu Gowon regime made the Students’ Loans Board Decree which catered for thousands of needy recipients. The facilities were repayable 20 years after the graduation of the beneficiaries. Yes, the plan was that friendly. Again, the government of General Ibrahim Babangida enacted Decree 50 of 1993 that established the Nigerian Education Bank. Not to be left out of the push to facilitate affordable and well-equipped tertiary education, the National Assembly also passed the University Autonomy Bill early in the Fourth Republic. It was meant to empower the various governing councils of universities to take more direct control of the instruments for freedom, including financial diversification and sufficiency.   

Of those efforts, even with its shortcomings, Gowon’s is by far the most remarkable and memorable. And, perhaps, more dramatic. At a point, university students were preparing for their examinations and the authorities mounted pressure on those who were indebted. The agitations that followed were strong enough to enlist even the support of the students who were not owing. Faced with the possibility of violent prospects, the government stepped in and paid off the students’ debts. Soon after, the board went into action and students were able to borrow between 300 and 500 naira, depending on the durations of their various courses of study. These figures must sound ridiculous to Nigerians who were not around or not sufficiently aware of the days of their currency’s strength, dominance and glory. But the amounts effectively covered tuition, books, meals, accommodation, transportation and even few clothes. The university managements which received the monies directly from the board, gave the students the balance after deducting the regular commitments. Those who received scholarships and bursaries were excluded from the scheme.

It was a win-win situation, for the students, their institutions and, ultimately, the nation as a whole. At the time, there were only six universities in the country – University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria Nsukka, University of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, University of Ife, Ile-Ife, and University of Benin – all owed by the federal government. Was the exercise flawless? Of course not. Stories of wrong addresses of some of the students and the unfaithfulness in repaying the loans have remained a blight on an otherwise noble and moderately successful outing. These complaints are still valid today and have formed formidable mountains in the minds of critics of subsequent similar programmes. 

Now, times have indeed changed with all the negative implications: increasingly weak purchasing power, decreased public revenue, astronomic population, overwhelmed infrastructure. I better leave out corruption that shows no signs of capitulating any moment soon. That alone can grossly undermine the best policies and moves to implement them. But then, the need to develop the country’s manpower to meet growing demands is one national imperative that can’t be waved aside. No statistics are required to prove that many of the world’s most brilliant minds have very poor beginnings. It’s been the duty of governments to, at least, create a conducive and fair environment for citizens to thrive intellectually.

Ordinarily, there shouldn’t be any fact or sentiment that can out-reason or out-voice any package meant to uplift the downtrodden especially in our land where the vicissitudes of life weigh heavily and disproportionately against the less-privileged. And we don’t have to practice socialism to make room for the targets of the Act. It’s sad, though, that we still struggle with basic indices of development like ready and reliable data on residents. That can solve the critical issues of determining the eligibility of the applicants for the loans, their repayment obligations and enforcement of relevant penalties in case of defaults. Anyways, the advent of modern technology, compared with the past, leaves us with less space for excuses in that regard. The involvement of established organisations like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in the sourcing of funds should give adequate confidence to the Education Loan Fund, executors of the Act, to handle its briefs which include the treatment and approval of requests, and disbursements and recoupments.

The 11-person management committee that comprises of respected persons from the fora of vice chancellors, rectors and provosts, and also the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) should further fortify the fund’s integrity and the likelihood of surviving against the odds. If the Tinubu administration really intends to make lasting impact on our chances of becoming genuinely competitive in this ever-evolving world, here is its chance. Beyond what could appear as an eagerness to impress an anxious populace, it must mobilise every necessary tool towards actualising this project.

Dr Ekpe is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board