Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has urged the Federal Government to ensure that beneficiaries of the students loan funds are not to plunged into huge debts.
The governor gave the charge on Tuesday while hosting a delegation from the leadership and management of the Nigeria Education Loans Fund at his office in Osogbo.
According to Adeleke, he is aware of the challenges that the students loan scheme brought upon citizens of the United States of America who keyed into it, warning that, “Debt trap must never be experienced in Nigeria’s students’ loan operations.”
He said, “As a government, we see the Fund as a veritable platform to provide a lifeline for many indigents students in our various schools. The initiative promises to remove the pain and hardship experienced by many brilliant students. Again, we are elated by the prospects and opportunities for our students , hence our launching into the programme with all machinery of government.
“We are glad our efforts paid off with the enrolment of many Osun schools in the programme. It is gratifying to hear that Osun took the lead among a comity of states in the selection and compliance process. Our next plan is to follow up by further deepening the preparedness of the selected schools for accessing opportunities available within the fund.
“Our gratitude also goes to the management of NELFUND for making the take off so efficient and for the fairness manifested during the selection process. We have strong faith in the capacity of the Fund to continue on the path of openness and equity.
“I must however call our attention to a lesson we must learn as a nation from the operation of the loans board. As a long term resident of the United States, I am aware of the challenge of student loans’ debt. It has become a crisis of sorts. It has also become a subject of hot political debate. It has to do with huge student loan debt in the US
“We must as a nation avoid a similar debt trap. As we have the grace to understudy other nations operating similar funds, we must avoid the pitfalls. Our new system must integrate mechanisms to prevent similar experiences like what is happening in the US.
“I task the management of NELFUND to innovate within its mandate on how to make its operations sustainable. Debt trap must never be experienced in Nigeria’s students’ loan operations,” the governor stated.
In his remarks earlier, the Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, said Osun was chosen as first state for official launch of the programme because of its proactiveness in applying for it on time, adding that the scheme is strictly for indigent students.
Sawyerr noted that the loan scheme is for government owned tertiary institutions alone, saying beneficiaries would pay back two years after completing their National Youth Service Corps and after they have secured employment.