ASUU rejects proposed education loan, charges Nigerian government to honour agreements

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected the education loan proposed by the Federal Government for university students in the country.

The National Assembly had in November passed the Students Loan Bill sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.

The bill is aimed at increasing access to financial assistance for students of higher institutions in the country.

In a communiqué issued at the end of its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held at the University of Calabar, ASUU accused the federal government of disengaging from funding public varsities.

The union also lamented the federal government’s repeated failure to honour the 2020 agreements.

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The statement read: “NEC observed with concern the systemic disengagement of government from the funding of public universities through the proposed introduction of education loan which has proven to be a monumental failure in our nation and some other countries where it was introduced.

“We find it troubling that the proponents of the policy are so eager to foist down the throats of Nigerians when they have done more to push the working people of this country into poverty through sheer incompetence in handling the economic fortunes of our nation.

“The union is disturbed by the surreptitious moves by the government to price university education beyond the reach of the poor Nigerian students and their parents through the introduction of various charges. We commend student bodies who have seen through this ruinous path and are rising up to the challenge.

“ASUU calls on Nigerians of goodwill to, in the interest of our students and the nation, prevail on the Nigerian government to urgently address all outstanding issues contained in the December 2020 FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Action. NEC rejects with vehemence the current attempts to impose master-slave treatment mechanism for relating with Nigerian scholars under whatever guise by the ruling class.”

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