The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has further expressed concerns over the planned student loan, saying beneficiaries of such initiative in other countries were committing suicide as a result of debts.
The union, therefore, asked President Bola Tinubu to change the newly assented Students Loans Act to grants for poor students.
ASUU National President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, gave the advice on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
He said: “This would have been better if we are giving it to those set of students who are very poor, it should be called a grant, not a loan.
” It should be called a grant since it is coming from the Federation Account and not that (after) these people have accessed it and when they are graduating, they have heavy loads behind them and within two years, if they don’t pay, they go to jail.”
Tinubu signed the Students Loans Bill into law last week.
The law provides for interest-free loans to poor Nigerian students. The loan repayment starts two years after the beneficiary completes the National Youth Service Corps.
However, the ASUU President said the policy is not sustainable.
