The Senior Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Students Engagement, Hon. Sunday Asefon has rejected the call by Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) 2027 presidential candidate on Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
GISTSMATE MEDIA reported that Atiku, the former Nigeria’s Vice President promise to review NELFUND and forgive every beneficial student of their debts.
Atiku’s position was made known by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in a statement on Tuesday evening.
Shaibu said Atiku does not believe Nigerian students should be forced to begin their working lives with heavy education debts.
He said the former vice president would focus on reducing the cost of education and, after reviewing the existing student-loan system, introduce debt forgiveness for students who meet the required conditions.
Speaking on Atiku’s call to review NELFUND, the strategic media committee on Presidential Intervention in Education through Office of the SSA to the President on Students Engagement said Atiku is farming “political rhetoric rather than workable policy”.
The SSA office maintained that Atiku is desperate to be President but his ambition is not clear and lacks practical solutions.
The Press release reads:
NELFUND IS A STRATEGIC INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION NOT A “BUCKET OF WATER” SSA TO PRESIDENT ON STUDENTS ENGAGEMENT COUNTERS ATIKU’S BASELESS CLAIM
As the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Students Engagement, I consider it important to clarify the recent comments by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who described the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as setting school fees on fire and then boasting that you lent students a bucket of water.
With due respect, that analogy misrepresents the purpose and impact of NELFUND.
NELFUND is not a substitute for scholarships, nor is it an endorsement of high education costs. Rather, the student-loan scheme is an additional pathway designed to ensure that financial difficulties do not force qualified Nigerian students to abandon their education.
NELFUND provides support for institutional fees and upkeep, subject to its guidelines, and its records demonstrate that hundreds of thousands of Nigerian students have already benefited from the intervention.
More importantly, the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing far more than providing student loans. Scholarships, grants, skills development programmes and other education interventions remain integral parts of the administration’s student focused agenda.
The policy is therefore not loans instead of scholarships”; it is loans alongside scholarships and other forms of support. This is necessary because Nigerian students have different needs and circumstances.
We must also distinguish political rhetoric from practical and sustainable policy. If former Vice President Atiku Abubakar proposes to forgive qualifying student debts, Nigerian students deserve to know the criteria for eligibility, the number of beneficiaries, the estimated cost and how such a programme would be sustainably funded.
Similarly, if he believes scholarships are a better alternative, Nigerians deserve to know how many students would benefit and what annual financial commitment would be required to implement such a policy.
The ambition to become President of Nigeria is legitimate, but presidential ambition should be accompanied by clear, practical, measurable and costed solutions. On student welfare and education, Nigerian students deserve policies that can be implemented, evaluated and sustained not merely attractive political metaphors.
NELFUND may not solve every challenge confronting Nigeria’s education sector, but dismissing it as a bucket of water” overlooks the real students it is supporting today.
For many Nigerian students, NELFUND is not a bucket of water; it is a bridge between financial hardship and the opportunity to remain in school, complete their education and build a better future.
The conversation should therefore focus on how to improve NELFUND, expand scholarships and grants, reduce the cost burden of education, and ensure that no qualified Nigerian student is denied the opportunity to learn because of financial circumstances.
SIGNED:
Strategic Media Committee
Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Students Engagement
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