The Nigeria government under the leadership of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu has on Monday, 12th June, 2023 signed into law a bill to provide loans for Nigeria students studying in tertiary institutions (University, Polytechnic, College of Education, e.t.c) across the country.

Tinubu signed the act targeted at improving the education sector across the length and breadth of Nigeria, and this will significantly shift the burden of tertiary education cost to students, parents and/or guardians. Because the government has made it clear right from the previous administration of the former president (Buhari) that the government cannot longer afford to provide funds for tertiary institutions.

In the meantime, the newly enacted law has called for the establishment of the Nigerian “Education Bank.” This institution will be charged with the responsibility to supervise, coordinate, administer, and monitor the management of student loans across the country.

According to reports, the bank in question will also keep track of the academic records of loan recipients, including information on their graduation, national service, and employment. This monitoring process ensures that loan beneficiaries commence repayment promptly as at when due, among other vital functions.

Even though the government has cleared the air on the instance of the death of the student recipients of the loan; that the relatives of the deceased student(s) will not inherit the burden of the loan, however, there is still a part that is ignored or not properly addressed by the stakeholders and the general public, and that is “Unemployment Syndrome” on the land that should prompt Leniency and “Amnesty” on the part of the government to some financially incapacitated recipients.

Issues

Unarguably, Nigeria is one of the world countries battling with uncertainty of availability of jobs for its teeming youth/graduates. The nation is known to be one of the countries that produce the best quality graduates, but nowhere or assurance to engage them after the graduation.

According to a report by Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), it projects a rise in unemployment to the rate of 37%, while the Poverty Rate will hit 45% this year, 2023. In a similar finding, it was discovered that 58.9% of HND graduates are unemployed, 49.55% of OND/NCE graduates are unemployed and 39.75% of BSc holders are unemployed, and the percentage is reportedly increasing, year-in,year-out.

Despite this, the new law of student loan has made it mandatory for the students to start the repayment two years after the National Youth Service, when there are some situations where graduates remain unemployed for life. Thousands of Nigeria graduates are roaming on the streets across the length and breadth of the country; not because they are unemployable but because the country refused to prepare for their employment or engagement after graduation.

Most of the graduates live from hand-to-mouth, with nothing much for savings to handle other basic needs, yet, the government wants them to repay the loan under this gloomy condition, as if Education is a privilege and not a right. This is something that is worth being free in the first place.

Suggestion

It is my candid opinion that any recipient of a student loan that could not secure a decent job under the Public or Private sector within two years of graduation should not be mandated to repay the loan. You don’t expect somebody that is earning (for Instance) N30,000 monthly to have money to settle the loan. 30k monthly means 1k every day, calculate the cost of feeding alone (daily) and see if this kind of earner has anything to save. Nothing!

Therefore, the graduates who eventually end up with petty jobs and meager salaries/wages cannot cope if subjected to loan repayment. And forcing to pay back the loan will possibly push many to engage in criminal activities such as armed robbery or banditry to meet up. This will ultimately add wounds to the already incurable and overwhelmed insecurity in the country.

As such, the government should make arrangements or provisions for “Amnesty” right from this very beginning. Any student loan recipient earning N70,000 or less monthly after two years of graduation should be granted amnesty. I urge the students, parents, guardians and well-meaning Nigerians to support and clamor for this plea.

Additionally, the rising unemployment is majorly fueled by corruption, favouritism and nepotism in both the private and public sectors of Nigeria. The government at all levels should step up their efforts in fighting this cankerworm (Corruption) to a stand still.

Finally, the country should expedite its efforts in creating job opportunities to engage the youth meaningfully. Any country that produced and trained great brains and refused to engage them will lose them to brain drain and criminality.

OmoLabi Umuhani opeyemi is a 300L student of Mass Communication Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. She writes from Zaria.

The post The Part Of Student Loan That Nobody Is Talking About (Amnesty), By Omolabi Umuhani opeyemi first appeared on Africans Angle.