“Students Will Pull Out of School”: ASUU Reacts to Newly Signed Student Loan Act by President Tinubu

“Students Will Pull Out of School”: ASUU Reacts to Newly Signed Student Loan Act by President Tinubu

  • The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said the Student Loan Act would send many Nigerian students out of school
  • ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, stated this while reacting to the recently signed Student Loan Bill by President Bola Tinubu
  • President Tinubu had on Monday, June 12, signed the Student Loan Bill into law to help indigent students go through higher education

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has reacted to the newly signed Student Loan Act by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stating that many students will withdraw from school.

President Tinubu had on Monday, June 12, signed the Student Loan Bill into law to help indigent students go through higher education.

Tinubu's student loan/ Student Loan Bill/ ASUU reacts to Students Loan Bill/ ASUU Chairman
ASUU says Student Loan Bill will send students out of school. Photo Credit: Abubakar A. Abdulmajid/ Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Source: Facebook

Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, June 14, ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the Student Loan Act has the potential of sending many students out of school, Vanguard reported

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Osodeke said:

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“A country where more than 133 million are living below the poverty line and you want to introduce tuition fees? It will be counterproductive.
“Every Nigerian should know what is going to happen next and there may likely be another bill waiting for signature that will introduce tuition fees.
“If the bill indicated that the loan is to pay tuition fees and there are no tuition fees in Nigerian universities, then what is your next approach?”

It’s not a new bill, we rejected it during Buhari’s administration

Osodeke disclosed that the bill is not actually new because ASUU had rejected it when immediate former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration brought it up.

The ASUU Chairman, however, admitted that there was need for the union to study it but it yet to have access to the accurate copy of the law signed by Tinubu.

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He added:

“We have said long ago, in 2017, to President Buhari when they came up with the issue of tuition fees, that every student will pay N1 million and we said you cannot put that in our agreement and you cannot use that to negotiate with us and with the nature of the country we have today, there is no way that will work.”
“What will happen is that the majority of students whose parents cannot afford it will pull out of school in anger and you know what that means, they will fight the society back. But let us get the correct information first before knowing the next steps.”

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Earlier, Legit.ng had reported that expectations of parents and students alike to acquire tertiary education have been high since the day President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Monday, June 12, signed the Students Loan Bill into law.

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The Students Loan Bill was the third of its kind that President Tinubu had signed since assuming office on Monday, May 29.

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Legit.ng reported that President Bola Tinubu had signed the student loan bill into law. This will be the third of its kind that the new Nigerian leader has signed since his assumption of office as the president.

This was disclosed in a video shared on the President's media page on Twitter, @ABATMediaCentre, on Monday, June 12.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Adekunle Dada avatar

Adekunle Dada (Politics and Current Affairs Editor) Adekunle Dada is a trained journalist with over 7 years of working experience. He is also a Politics/Current Affairs Editor at Legit.ng. He holds a B.Sc. in Mass Communication From Lagos State University, Ojo. Adekunle previously worked at PM News, The Sun, and Within Nigeria where he expressed his journalistic skills with well-researched articles and features. In 2024, Adekunle obtained a certificate in advanced digital reporting from the Google News Initiative. He can be reached via adekunle.dada@corp.legit.ng.