The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr David
Adejo said this at a public hearing by the House of Representatives ad hoc
committee on student loans in Abuja on Tuesday.
Adejo said that the recent increase in charges by federal
universities in the country was unfortunate.
“What they collect is charges to cover the cost of
accommodation, ICT, and power, among others. It is the Governing Councils of
the Universities that have the power to approve such charges for them.
“The only university that increased charges after the
signing of the student loans act is the University of Lagos.
“They came to the Ministry with a proposal to increase their
charges because all Governing Councils were dissolved and we gave them approval.
“Immediately that was done, there was a resolution from the
House stopping the increase in fees and the President also gave a directive
stopping any increase in fees and that is where it is, even though several
others have brought their proposal,” he said.
Adejo said that the charges collected by the institutions
were used to pay for some of their services, including electricity bills.
He faulted claims that the signing of the Students’ loan act
was responsible for some of the hike in the university charges.
Adejo said that despite the charges, the universities had
not been able to meet up with some of their expenses.
He said that modalities had been put in place for the
take-off of the student loans scheme in the 2023/2024 academic calendar.
Adejo said that President Bola Tinubu had given a directive
that all necessary works must be completed on the modalities for the take-off
of the scheme to enable its take-off in September.
The chairman of the committee, Teseer Ugbor said the student
loan was part of the palliatives by the federal government to alleviate the
suffering of Nigerians and to ensure access to higher education by interested
Nigerians.
He, however, expressed concern over the disbursement
process, the recovery of the funds from beneficiaries as well as the
possibility of some students not being able to access the loan.
He call for dialogue in the process of trying to amend the
law to ensure that all Nigerian students interested in the loan benefitted from
it.
NAN