Nigerian students, both in public and private tetiary institutions, are aiming to get the Federal Government students’ loan, which according to the President Ahmed Tinubu-led administration will take effect from January 2024. To get the loan, here are the criteria you must meet, below:
– Family income of less than N500,000 per annum
– Provide two civil servants not less than level 12 years in service or a Lawyer with at least 10 years post-call experience; a judicial officer or a Justice of Peace as guarantors
– Students with parents who have defaulted in respect of previous loans will not be considered
– You must also not have defaulted on any previous loan or been found guilty of exam malpractice, felony, or drug offenses
Required documents to access the loan
List of documents that should be submitted to the Student Affairs Office of your institution:
– A completed application form
– A copy of your admission letter
– A copy of your JAMB result slip
– A copy of your WAEC/NECO result certificate
– A copy of your birth certificate
– A copy of your passport photograph
– A guarantor’s letter of support from each of your two guarantors
– A copy of your guarantors’ employment letter(s)
– A copy of your guarantors’ passport photographs
The Student Affairs Office of your institution will review your application and make a recommendation to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The CBN will then take a decision on whether or not to grant you the loan.
If you are granted the loan, the money will be paid to your institution, after which your institution will send it to your account.
In response to the Federal Government student loan, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) described the student loan as a set-up by the Federal Government and a plan to enrich a few individuals who own private universities in the country.
The National President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, who was represented by his deputy, Christopher Piwuna, stated this while speaking with journalists in Bauchi on the sidelines of the award of scholarship to undergraduate students in Bauchi Zone of the union held at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Yelwa Campus, on Saturday.
He said, “If the government was sincere in its intentions, the proposed student loan should be made a grant instead of a loan.
“Right from the start, we believe that the Nigerian state is capable of funding education in Nigeria. All these issues that have led to the introduction of the loan, the issues of charges in our universities are as a result of poor funding. So, this particular effort by the government is supposed to meet that funding gap in the universities.
“We believe that with discipline, the Nigerian state can fund education adequately. From recent happenings in the country, where, for instance, one member of the National Assembly can take just a part of his allowances would include a N160 million, is a clear sign that if the Nigerian state is serious, it can fund education.
“The leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan, I think, tried to demonstrate that, when his administration agreed to release N200 billion in 2013 as part of the Needs Assessment and till this day, 10 years after the release of that money, we still see what that money is doing in this system.
“Just imagine if the government takes this funding seriously. So, we are against the student loan as a form of funding education, we think the loan will go back into the cofers of private individuals who are in government today who own private universities. If the government is serious, they should make grants to institutions and students.”
In a brief interview with Wisdom Obasuyi, a 200-level student at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), who asked some vital questions like, “who will repay the loan”? “What is the fate of those who cannot access it”? He further went on to say that, he agrees with the ASUU in the sense that the students’ loan will only benefit the rich, and those who cannot access the loan due to the stringent conditions attached virtually means dropping out of school.
Also speaking was a student of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Miss Cynthia, who said the psychological trauma the students will be subjected to due to the loan while still on studies will affect their performance negatively.
“The thought that they will graduate with a loan of N4 million and above without the capacity to pay back is another psychological torture on them,” she said.
