Nigerian students under the aegis of The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), have urged the federal government to follow up on the loans disbursement by the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to tertiary institutions on behalf of students and ascertain the money is channelled toward the right cause.
NANS’ senate president, Babatunde Afeez Akinteye, gave the charge in Lagos at the NANS’s 86th National Senate Sitting and Pre-Convention event held at the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, reports Nigerian Tribune.
Over 5,000 students’ leaders from across Nigeria campuses attended the event.
According to Akinteye, it is not enough to give schools billions of Naira in the name of NELFUND loans without the government following it up to know how schools are utilising the funds.
He noted that close monitoring is the way to ensure the purposes of the loans to develop tertiary institutions are not forfeited.
When asked about students’ position on school fees increment, Akinteye told our correspondent that the students are against any fee hike by any public school in the country.
According to him, we don’t want further financial pressure on our members as NELFUND’s loans or any other consideration can’t be used as yardstick to justify any fee increment by any school. We won’t accept that and we have made this known to every VC, rector and provost of colleges of education and we’re following up closely on our stand.
Also speaking, National President of NANS, Lucky Emonefe, commended the generality of Nigerian students for their support and cooperation with the leadership of the union, assuring continuous serving of their interests.
He advised students who need financial support for their education to approach NELFUND for such help, saying the process is transparent and seamless.
He declared that “all that is required to get a loan is to be a genuine student and financially incapable,” adding, “we know all these because we have our representatives as board members.”
