ZIK GBEMRE PONDERS ON TINUBU’S STUDENTS LOAN: HOW FEASIBLE, HOW SUSTAINABLE?
Agreed students loans are meant to assist students in acquiring higher education but the question is, will it work effectively as being initiated by President Bola Tinubu in a Nigeria troubled by institutional failures.
I doubt if the Tinubu Student Loan Act will achieve its goals and objectives. It works in the UK where government institutions are functional in an organised system where every sector is working efficiently.
Ignorant Nigerians are quick to make comparison between Nigeria and the advanced countries. In UK, all sectors – transport, health, education, name it, work for the good of all. You don’t need to beg for electricity as far as you can afford it but here in Nigeria, electricity is absent.
No motorable roads. No functional public hospitals. No functional railways. Every thing is upside down according to Fela Kuti. Why do we deceive ourselves and ‘copy copy’ without looking at why these sectors are functional in the advanced countries?
Nigerian government talks about students loans and introducing increased fees in universities and other higher institutions without finding solutions to unemployment before heading to the next stage. Why are the youths increasingly embracing ‘japa’ to foreign countries if paid jobs are available?
Can you develop a country without building standard social amenities/infrastructures? Why did companies like Dunlop and Michelin relocate out of Nigeria to neighbouring African countries? Why is Nigeria still importing fuels? Why is Nigeria still in darkness?
Why can’t we refine our crude oil and gas and export finished products to other countries? Why are our leaders still going for medical checks/treatments in UK, US, France and Dubai ? Why are our cities not connected with rails? Why are our airports still substandard?
Why are saboteurs still bursting oil pipes? Why are there still barbaric killings by unknown gun men? Why are they still kidnapping people for ransoms? Why is there is still terrorism? Why is the government of the day not encouraging building of petrochemical plants? Why are investors still scared of coming to Nigeria to invest? Too many questions unanswered by the politicians in power.
Nigeria is blessed with human resources if only we have government players and politicians who are responsible and willing to work with sincerity of purpose.
I hear the president just inaugurated a bloated Economic Council that will be meeting a month with state governors, permanent secretaries, accountant-general that will be headed by VP Shettima.
Of what value are those jamboree of meetings beyond drinking coffee and wine together? I expected Tinubu to advise state governors to have their economic councils in their respective states instead of gathering in Abuja for merriment.
The governors were elected in their respective states to govern their people. They should concentrate in their respective states.
The haste in signing into law the Student Loan bill is very unnecessary. How will the beneficiaries pay back the student loans obtained? After graduating many of them will go back to streets to ride commercial motorcycles, Keke.
What I expect President Tinubu to do is to fix the economy to stimulate economic growth. We have more than enough universities and higher institutions. They lack facilities to train students. We hear most private universities and public universities are producing half baked graduates who can barely read and write. We also hear some get admission in neighbouring countries that offer them degrees in less than a year.
Even the nation’s public universities have become centres for breeding cultists and cybercriminals. Do we blame them? We blame government for not meeting standards. Public universities are funded by endowments, funding councils paid for by taxation, and tuition fees levied on students in England.
University of Cambridge’s endowment, £6.25Bn is the largest, while tuition fees have been abolished in Scotland according to Wikipedia. Most universities in the UK receive public funding through block grants from the office for students. The UK government provides students with tuition fee loan to cover full cost of the fees for the duration of undergraduate programmes.
Financial support for the living cost of higher education of students comes from government loans and grants/bursaries. Additionally, support is also available to some students depending on their personal circumstances according to Commons Library Parliament report in the UK.
The student loans work in UK because as a student, you get jobs while schooling and after graduation you get job so they pay back their student loans obtained from the banks with ease. Tinubu should ask self why Gen Ibrahim Babangida’s PEOPLE BANK failed.
People’s Bank was introduced by Babangida and headed by Tai Solarin, but it failed.
Those who collected loans never paid back. It didn’t work because of failed system. The bank officials were corrupt and those who took loans after sharing with bank officials didn’t pay back.
The Tinubu student loan is another waste effort. To sign bills is easy but implementation can be a challenge without clear modalities or clarified framework. This so-called students loans will be shared with officials and it will collapse as People’s Bank of Babangida/Tai Solarin.
The Student Loan Act is not sustainable. It is abnormal to make comparison between Nigeria, UK and other advanced countries on how students loan works. In UK, transportation is well developed that the trains/tubes/buses are available to any destination and here our politicians will compare fuel prices with the fuel prices of UK.
You don’t need a car of your own to live comfortable in the UK. Our politicians are a bunch of thoughtless people.
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