Blog Post
I recently read the Student Loan, (Access to Higher Education) Act, and this is how I feel about it.
The loan access requirements are onerous enough! I have worked directly with the poor in Nigeria, and I can say with authority that the bulk of the poor CANNOT access someone who is a level 12 civil servant or a lawyer with ten years of post-call experience. This is typically the bail requirement set by our courts, which has kept poor people in jail for years while they await trial. In cases where they have access to guarantors, would the guarantors be ready to guarantee the loan for an impoverished person knowing full well that the likelihood of having a job after NYSC is only half and he or she may be the one to repay the loan?
2. WHY ARE WE CRIMINALIZING POVERTY? the law states that students who default on payment shall be liable to 2years in prison. Why? Since when has owing become a crime? The government and the National Assembly need to review this. Let the poor breathe, we owe them that responsibility!
3. THE LAW IS VISITING THE WRONGDOING OF PARENTS ON CHILDREN. The law states that the applicant will pay the loan, not their parents! why is it that the inability of the applicant’s parent to pay back their debt in the past constitutes a bar for the applicant to benefit from the student loan? This also needs to be looked into!
The intention of the draftsmen of this law is well understood and appreciated. Still, where we have billions of Naira for the benefit of Nigerian students but due to stringent conditions and bottlenecks they cannot access same, it will birth nothing but misappropriation of the fund!
