Nigerians were greeted with the cheering news that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, assented to the Student Loan Bill passed by the 9th National Assembly.
As a Nigerian, I feel the joy of most students, especially the indigent ones yearning for this kind of opportunity. I am sure it's a great way for the President to celebrate this year's June 12 Democracy Day with the Nigerian students.
On this note of gratitude, I appreciate you, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, former Lagos State Governor, for assenting to the Student Loan Bill without delay.
Congratulations to every Great Nigerian student who now have a succour to hope for from this initiative. Your already burdened relatives helping you and struggling to pay your tuition fees can now rest and save funds for their own needs.
As great as this law is, I believe it is not yet uhuru . This law is like a forerunner to what I expect for the program to be sustainable and impactful.
My expectations are on:
1.Who will the President appoint as Chairman of The Nigerian Education Fund (NEF) created by the law ? The nation needs a competent patriotic Nigerian with the integrity of former President Muhammadu Buhari who headed the Petroleum Trust Fund( PTF) used as intervention funds for tertiary institutions in the mid 90s.
The character and competence of the people in the management team to oversee the Nigeria Education Fund is critical.
2. Education, particularly tertiary education, is no longer on the exclusive list. As noble and great as the law is, the Federal Government takes the credit for leading the way but can not be conferred with a monopoly in tertiary education Student Loan Provision service .This is not the intention of taking tertiary education from exclusive list to the residential list in the nation's constitution. States and Local Government Areas ( LGAs) are closer to these students so I prefer that this law be domesticated in each state of the Federation and states fund their own Student Loan Service provider. If states do not have their own, politics of identity of the major beneficiaries of this national fund may soon set in.
3. This law is not clear on who regulates the service it provides. This is a complex process involving different Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) , commercial banks, all tertiary institutions in the nation and law enforcement agencies to go after those who default from paying back their student loan when due. In my opinion, the
Nigerian Education Fund( NEF) can not be a service provider of Student Loan service and serve as a regulator at the same time. Without a regulator in place, I am concerned about the period when states enact their own laws and implement. How do we avoid an overlap of roles and abuse that may arise from the system. Who ensures that the beneficiaries who default do not walk away with the tax payers money? A serious concern I expressed in my earlier article titled "5 Years Before Going Abroad Doctors Bill: A Clinical Stitch In Time" https://saharareporters.com/
Who ensures that the nation gets real value from giving out interest-free loans to these students who may decide to flee abroad immediately after their training? This is where a regulator is absolutely required.
The regulator can not be the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) neither can the different regulators of tertiary education like National Universities Commission( NUC) regulate Student Loan Service. So who will regulate and have the power to ensure standards in the Student Loan Provision services? Can the Federal Government make the Nigerian Education Fund a service provider while it amends the law to create a National Student Loan Commission to regulate the service provided by NEF and the expected state equivalents?
4. Can we incentivise private operators to bring in private funds into that space? I am considering the opportunity for private Student Loan service providers as alternatives to the Government Student Loan service providers to give student loans at not more than 5% interest to all Nigerian tertiary institution students , students of institutions that fail to meet the 30-day deadline to submit forms or/and students of parents earning more than N500,000 but not more than N1,000,000 per annum.
*Conclusion*
In my opinion, an omnibus Student Loan Fund service provider owned by FG, over time, may have difficulty with quality assurance of the value this brilliant initiative will bring so I hereby suggest to both the executive and legislative arms to introduce a regulator for the Student Loan Service Provider(s), States empowered to have their own Student Loan Service Provider before the end of this year while private Student Loan Service Providers can start by next year under regulation.
Sunkanmi Vaughan is an author and Lagos-based Pharmacist.