Hike in service charges

Meanwhile, many tertiary institutions in the country have hiked service charges such as Acceptance Fee, Hostel Fee among others. Investigation by our correspondent has shown.

For instance, at the University of Ibadan, UI, the Acceptance Fee has been jerked up from N37,000 to N50,000. The same at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, where the fee has been raised to N50,000 from N20,000. While new students are to pay N108,000 up from about N50,000.

At the University of Maiduguri, new students are to pay N252, 000, instead of N131,500. The University of Uyo is asking students to pay N107,750. Even at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, students who are not staying in the hostels even have Hostel Fee to pay, it has been increased from N5,000 to N15,000.

Facts about the scheme

Students who want to enjoy the benefit must apply to the Chairman of the Education Bank through their respective institutions upon satisfaction of the following conditions:

(i) Student must have secured admission into any public Nigerian University,Polytechnic, COE or TVET school.

Applicant income or family income must be less than N500,000 per annum.

Applicant must provide at least two civil servants as guarantors: of not less than 12 years in service; or a lawyer with at least 10 years post-call experience; a judicial officer; or a Justice of Peace.

Students who have defaulted in previous loans; found guilty of exam malpractices, felony, drug offenses will not be considered.

Students with parents who have defaulted in respect of previous loans will not be considered. All Applications will be submitted through the Students Affairs Office of each Institution via a list of all qualified applicants from the institution accompanied by a cover letter signed by the Vice Chancellor or Rector or the head of the institution and the student affairs.

Disbursement of loans:  The new Act establishes the Nigerian Education Loan Fund. The fund will shall be domiciled with, managed and administered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the money deposit banks in Nigeria for the purpose set out under section 6 of this Act.The governor of the CBN shall set up a special committee to perform the functions of the fund set out under Section 6 of this Act. The chairman of the committee shall be the governor of the CBN who shall appoint the secretary of the committee. Also, the applicant’s application and disbursements are made within 30 days of the application reaching the chairman of the committee.

Academic records of beneficiaries are to be monitored through the student affairs office of each institution via a list of all qualified applicants from the institution, accompanied by a cover letter signed by the vice-chancellor, rector, or the head of the institution and the student affairs.

Loan repayment method: According to the law, the employers of successful applicants must deduct the loan from their salaries after they must have completed their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.

Meanwhile, Nigerians studying abroad, under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, in the Diaspora, have appealed to President Bola Tinubu, to make it easy for them to get Form M through which they get foreign exchange to pay their school fees.

The students made this known in a statement by the President, Comrade Abdulrazak Abubakar, made available to our correspondent on Wednesday.                              “The leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students in Diaspora led by Comrade Abdulrazak Abubakar is deeply appreciating Mr. President, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for his commitment towards the Nigerian Students Community. The signing of the student loan bill marks the beginning of a new dawn for Nigerian students.

Mr. President, the Nigerian students in the Diaspora hope that the new educational system would also cover the Nigerian students in the Diaspora because, in the real sense, the Nigerian Students in Diaspora are not living in paradise. For instance, one of the challenges that we are confronted with is the challenge of tuition funds remittance through Form A.”

Meanwhile, the federal government on  Wednesday said it had begun putting all necessary measures in place to ensure students loan begin between September and October, 2023.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew David Adejo, who revealed this while speaking to newsmen in Abuja, said already President Bola Tinubu has approved a committee made up of ministries and agencies to see to the realization of the scheme

Adejo said “The bill is to make sure that every Nigerian has access to higher education through what we called the Higher Education Nigerian Bank.

Learning from past mistakes, the bank is not going to be the type that will sit down and be collecting application loans, it will also perform normal banking functions and make sure loans are given because we had cases of loan recovery in the past.

“The Act as it is tells us the process, but as I speak with you today, the President has approved the committee made up of ministries and agencies and their meeting will be coming up 20th of June.

The president has also directed that by September to October this 2023/2024 academic session, he wants to see recipients of these loans. So it is a very serious march for us so between now and then we have to phantom the process for people to get the loan,” he added.

Form A is a medium through which foreign students access foreign exchange at the official rate rather than sourcing extra finances in other to get the same from the parallel market on order to settle all their academic bills and expenses. The unbearable hiccups, therefore, remain the challenge of responsiveness and delay from the Nigerian banks in remitting the funds to the students’ respective institutions and accounts.

It is in view of this, we join forces with our sister association in Nigeria NANS to suggest that the government solves the Form A issues as a viable solution to the challenge of funds remittance to the students’ international accounts and institutions. With this stride, our hope is renewed that we have a government that really cares for Nigerian students,” the statement read.