The Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) has condemned the student loan programme of the federal government disbursed through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.

The President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, said the government should increase budgetary provision to the education sector or run a grant for the children of the poor.

Professor Osodeke stated this on Thursday while speaking on Channels TV.

He stressed that higher institutions have resorted to increasing school fees because of student loan.

“Our issue with NELFUND is that in a country like Nigeria, it should be grants; and not a loan.

“All the universities are increasing their fees now; jerking up their fees so that the students will borrow more loans from this NELFUND, encumbering the children of the poor.

“In my university, in my department, I now have less than 10 students in the department, many have dropped out. Apart from some of these big courses like Medicine, Law and what have you, students are dropping out. The children of the poor are dropping out,” he said.

Osodeke explained that the student loan scheme had failed on two occasions because students were not able to pay back upon graduation.

He explained many graduates may not get work because of the economic situation of the country. He emphasized that the students may be morally demoralized upon graduation.

“We are the academia, we do our research, we have searched all over the world, we have not seen. In most countries where you are having student loans when they graduate, they become problems in society. Some of them are demoralized.

“Imagine a student graduating from the university with a loan of five million naira. Even me as a professor, I can not pay back such a loan in 20 years’ time. Then student who graduates you have a loan of 5 million and you are getting a job in next 20 years.

“And we are saying if you loot at what happened in the 60s and 70s you can go to that level. The children of the poor assist them, increase budgetary allocation to education and this issue of loan will not come out.

“This is the third time they are introducing it, the last two times it collapsed, nobody benefitted. Those that benefitted didn’t pay back because it collapsed. So how are we sure this one will survive?” Osodeke stated.