ASUU, ASUP reacts as Tinubu signs student loan bill

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has reacted to President Bola Tinubu signing the student loan bill into law.

ASUU described the loan bill as discriminatory between the children of the rich and the poor.

National President, ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, in an interview with Punch, said, “The union will react soon but everyone knows our position on student loans because you will end up encumbering the children of the poor with loans and debt after graduating.

“This is discriminatory. If what I read online is correct, it said it is only for children whose parents earn at least N500,000 per annum. That means if your father earns more, you won’t benefit.”

Similarly, the National President, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Mr Anderson Ezeibe, said, “I have not studied the bill and we don’t want to react on the surface. But I have seen one area that will not be practicable.

“It says that students should refund the money two years after NYSC. But what is the provision for someone who is not working after NYSC? And will they all get jobs immediately after NYSC?”

Tinubu, on Monday, in Abuja, signed the Student Loan Bill into law.

The signing of the bill was in “fulfilment of one of his campaign promises to liberalise funding of education,” a member of the Presidential Strategic Team, Dele Alake, told State House Correspondents on Monday evening.

The Students Loan Act becomes Tinubu’s second piece of legislation signed since he assumed office two weeks ago.

The bill will enable indigent students to access loans at interest-free rates.