Although the 2022 Student Loan Act was signed into law recently, with presumably good intentions, the provisions of the act do not reflect the reality of the intended beneficiaries—students from lower-income-earning families.
On 12 June 2023, President Bola Tinubu signed the Students Loan Bill into law. Earlier that day, I had a discussion with a friend about how the rising cost of living (due to the rising inflation and fuel subsidy removal) was leading to absenteeism from classes and postings. I was delighted at the possibility of the Students Loan Act being a healing balm for students. On closer examination, I realized that the policy which intends to help poor Nigerians to acquire tertiary education contains provisions that are far from the reality of the average poor student and represent a stark disconnect from the relief which it aims to provide.
In a video from the 2015 presidential election campaign, President Tinubu declared that ‘we will give student loans and for our (school) programmes, four years will be four years.’ He also repeated this during the build-up to the 2023 Presidential election...
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