Atiku campaign spokesman, Bwala, raises questions around Tinubu’s Student Loan Act

The latest Student Loan Act, which President Bola Tinubu recently signed, has drawn criticism from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council (PDP-PCC) spokesperson, Daniel Bwala.

The President had signed the Student Loan Bill into law on Monday, in order to satisfy a promise he made during his campaign,

The Federal Government’s spokesperson, Mr. Dele Alake, made this announcement and stated that only needy tertiary students would have access to the monies, which would be housed in the Ministry of Education.

The law aims to give needy Nigerians simple access to higher education through loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund that are interest-free.

However, during his appearance on Channels Television Politics Today on Wednesday night, Bwala stated that the bill was not brought about by Tinubu’s administration and that it had been written and was just waiting for Buhari’s signature.

Given the number of students in Nigeria, he also questioned how the loan funds would be generated continually, adding, that the president’s platform did not explicitly outline solutions for future funding.

“Most importantly, the bill itself and the content of the bill, you juxtapose that with the manifesto of the party, where are they going to get the money to give the loans.

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“The bankers are not going to give their money, the government would have to. There is no well-defined strategy for the loans in that manifesto,” he said.

Additionally, Bwala faulted the feasibility of the act after being signed, stating that the funds and structure to fuel this act might be a challenge to the government.

“The criminal law of Justice which was signed in 2015, no one has been prosecuted. Having the act signed is not the issue, because there must be money.

“The loan there is not to collect prayers, – is it not to collect money?” he queried.

“President Tinubu has to investigate, he has to probe the government he took over from. That was what Buhari did when he took over in 2015, he probed that government and they recovered some money.

“So he has to probe, Nigerian people will look at whether or not he has the balls to do that. They need to also expand the tax net, these areas that can work.”

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