The Student Loan Bill, which President Bola Tinubu signed into law, may cause many students to drop out of school, according to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, or ASUU.
ASUU President Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke made this statement in an interview with reporters on June 14.
Tinubu signed the legislation on Monday, citing it as a fulfilment of one of his campaign promises. The measure promises to provide free education to low-income students, which will be repaid when they graduate and begin working.
However, Osodeke claimed that the student loan bill would have an impact on millions of aspiring students who rely on tuition-free higher education institutions to further their education.
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He said: “A country where more than 133 million are living below the poverty line and you want to introduce tuition fees? It will be counterproductive.
“Every Nigerian should know what is going to happen next and there may likely be another bill waiting for signature that will introduce tuition fees.
“If the bill indicated that the loan is to pay tuition fees and there are no tuition fees in Nigerian universities, then what is your next approach?”
Osodeke stated that the measure is not new, disclosing that the union rejected it when previous President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration brought it up.
He also stated that the union has yet to have a correct copy of the law signed by Tinubu.
“We have said long ago, in 2017, to President Buhari when they came up with the issue of tuition fees, that every student will pay N1 million and we said you cannot put that in our agreement and you cannot use that to negotiate with us and with the nature of the country we have today, there is no way that will work.
“What will happen is that the majority of students whose parents cannot afford it will pull out of school in anger and you know what that means, they will fight society back. But let us get the correct information first before knowing the next steps,” he added.
