How students’ loan may ease university education amidst strikes

With recurrent strikes by university lecturers, debates have been ongoing as to how to permanently end the action that has affected millions of students over the years. One professor thinks he has found a solution, but his proposal of a student loan scheme is being kicked against by students’ union leaders.   Since Nigeria returned […]

With recurrent strikes by university lecturers, debates have been ongoing as to how to permanently end the action that has affected millions of students over the years. One professor thinks he has found a solution, but his proposal of a student loan scheme is being kicked against by students’ union leaders.

 

Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, strikes by university lecturers, which have been the norm in previous years, seem to have escalated.

Every successive government since ’99 has had to deal with one and the current strike which has to do with funding of universities, seems to have no end in sight.

The ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, is as a result of the non-implementation of the 2009 agreement to address the decay in universities as signed in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) of 2017.

Prof. Lawan Abubakar, the Bauchi Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, at a news conference before the commencement of the current strike expressed surprise that the federal government has yet to implement the various agreements aimed at revitalising public universities, as agreed in 2017.

“ASUU and the federal government signed an agreement on the revitalisation of the universities and the payment of arrears of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA). We also agreed that the EAA be captured in 2018 universities budgets.

“We also agreed on the need for adequate budgetary allocation to education in line with the UNESCO minimum standard of 26 per cent,” he said.

Going by the proposition of ASUU, N2trillion would be required annually to revitalize the university education system.

The Federal Government did not dispute this with the union as emphasized by its negotiating team headed by the legal luminary and Pro-Chancellor of University of Lagos, Dr. Olawale Babalakin, SAN.

While the union has had a long battle with the Babalakin-led committee, the five-man team has carried on with its mandate of finding lasting solutions to the recurrent crises.

The other members of the team are: Prof. Olufemi Bamiro, Pro-Chancellor, Tai Solarin University of Education; Prof. Nimi Briggs, Pro-Chancellor Federal University Lokoja; Prof. Munzali Jubril, former executive secretary, National Universities Commission, now Pro-Chancellor Federal University Lafia and Lawrence Ngbale, Pro-Chancellor, Federal University Birnin Kebbi.

Babalakin, while addressing concerns raised by the union at a press conference in Lagos said the team believes there was nothing wrong with the N2tr annual demand by ASUU but it is clear that government cannot afford such an amount going by other competing demands.

He said, “This figure (N2tr) exceeds in value the total amount of money available for all capital projects in Nigeria including health, infrastructure, security and others. No doubt that if the money were available for university education as ASUU has insisted it is, the government will have no difficulty in spending it on university education. However as it is, government cannot ignore all other areas that require funding.

“The National Council of Education appreciates this position and has directed that student loan schemes be set up by the various state governments. It has also supported the idea of an Education Bank which would provide soft loans for students seeking to obtain university education.”

According to him, based on ASUU’s own studies, the National Universities’ Commission (NUC) has, as at 2010, estimated that the cost of training Nigerian undergraduates to full accreditation status is $3,364 dollars. Applying a very  conservative rate of N300 to $1, this comes to approximately N1m per annum per student.

He noted that as at 2013, there were 761,000 students in Nigerian Universities, adding it is assumed that a 10 per cent growth per annum in Nigerian student’s population reckons that the Nigerian student population today is approximately one million.

Babalakin said, “Based on this calculation, the Nigerian university system requires N1tr a year to fund undergraduate education alone at N1m x 1m students = N1 trillion.

“Postgraduate education is however a different  matter. Unfortunately, the cost of providing this critical part  of  education is yet to be determined. However, it is noteworthy that TETFund supports each postgraduate student in Nigeria with approximately N1.5m per annum.

“Nigeria cannot continue to claim to produce postgraduate students without providing the facilities for this very important level of education,” he said.

At a time government barely manages to pay salaries and overheads of federal universities, the committee is of the view that the current budgetary realities makes it impossible to achieve the N2tr target. Babalakin noted for instance that the University of Lagos personnel cost for 2017 was N12.9bn, adding that the actual amount received was N10bn. The University also received less than N150m for its capital projects and overheads.

Should the Federal Government make available the sum of N1 trillion every year to fund university education, which is equal to 70% of the total capital released for 2017, which was N1.3 billion?

“It is our position that Government should immediately increase the number of scholarships provided for every Federal University from 22.5% to 30 % of the student population of the university. Once again, using University of Lagos as an example, this will mean an additional 7.25%   to the existing 22.5% already provided by Federal Government,” Babalakin said.

Even if this proposal is implemented, the committee observed that there are still 70% of the student population to cater for, that is, students that are not covered by the scholarships / sponsorships of the Federal Government. According to Babalakin, funding for this must be made available to turn around the university system in Nigeria.

He added, “Our position is that every student who gains admission to a university and is not able to qualify on merit for the Federal Government’s scholarship should be entitled as of right to obtain a loan from the Education Bank.

“A loan of N1million per annum would be made available to each of such students. N700,000 out of this loan will be paid to the University as tuition fees while           the balance will be available to the student as support towards his upkeep allowances.

Adeyemi Azeez Amoo, National Public Relations Officer (PRO) of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) is however wary of the idea of a loan, which he fears may drive up tuition fees as part of the association’s agitation is reduction in tuition fees.

He said, “Provision of needed facilities across campuses, scholarships and regular payments of bursary by the state governments will go a long way, more than loans.  NANS will rather advise the FG to make our classrooms comfortable, equip our laboratories with the needed facilities, pay the teaching and non-teaching staff their rights at the right time.”

On funding of education, he said, “Funding of education in Nigeria is not an impossibility, but our problems bother on the lackadaisical attitudes and total insincerity from our government at all levels. There is an international budgetary standard for education funding by UNESCO (26 percent) allocation. If only the government will allocate what is recommended internationally by UNESCO, and the implementation is well monitored and supervised, education will be properly funded. Nigeria has what it takes to fund education adequately and properly if and only if the government will show sincere commitments.”

This is also in tandem with the argument of ASUU which insisted that government should increase budgetary allocation to the education sector to be in line with the benchmark set by UNESCO.

But as the strike continues, it is expected that the parties would be much more flexible in returning to the discussion table.