Don’t Hike School Fees – Reps Warn Tertiary Institutions

The Students Loans and Access to Higher Education in Nigeria Act should not be used as a justification for tuition increases, the Nigerian House of Representatives has advised public tertiary institutions.

The resolution was introduced in plenary on Thursday in Abuja by Terseer Ugbor (APC-Benue).

The House also consented to host a legislative summit with all interested parties in the field of education on student loans and access to higher education.

A traditional source of funding for higher education around the world, according to Ugbor, who made the motion proposal, is financial assistance from family members and relatives.

According to him, throughout the previous 60 years, governments in both rich and developing nations had implemented a variety of student loan and educational credit programmes to enable students to borrow money for higher education.

He went on to say that it was also based on the idea that education was an investment in human capital, which would promote individual development, economic growth, and national productivity.

He said;

After several years of unsuccessful attempts by successive administrations to introduce students loans, scholarships and other educational credit schemes, the 9th National Assembly passed the Students Loans Bill.

He stated that President Bola Tinubu recently signed it into law to provide the legal and institutional framework for the implementation of a Students Loan Scheme in the country.

He stated that the Student Loans’ objectives and intentions were patriotic and would have a positive impact on access to higher education in Nigeria, particularly among underprivileged citizens.

However, he stated that there were several critical omissions and identifiable bottlenecks that would stymie the Act’s successful implementation.

This, he claims, is if immediate additional legislative action is not taken to ensure its effective implementation.

He stated that a legislative summit with all key stakeholders was urgently needed to develop a strategy to ensure the smooth implementation of the Act for the benefit of indigent Nigerian students.