Ademola Adeleke, the Governor of Osun State has asked the Federal government to understudy other developed nations involved in Student Loans Funds, so as to avoid the loan becoming a death trap for beneficiaries.
News About Nigeria reports that the Governor made the call while receiving the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer and his team, during their courtesy visit to his office at the state government secretariat in Osogbo, the state capital.
He said, “I must call our attention to a lesson we must learn as a nation from the operation of the loans board. As a long-term resident of the United States, I am aware of the challenge of student loan debt. It has become a crisis of sorts. It has also become a subject of hot political debate. It has to do with huge student loan debt in the US.
“We must, as a nation, avoid a similar debt trap. As we have the grace to understudy other nations operating similar funds, we must avoid the pitfalls. Our new system must integrate mechanisms to prevent similar experiences like what is happening in the US. I task the management of NELFUND to innovate within its mandate on how to make its operations sustainable. Debt trap must never be experienced in Nigeria’s students’ loan operations.”
Governor Adeleke commended President Bola Tinubu for creating the fund as a response to challenges facing the student population, noting that the President had demonstrated political will by fast-tracking, not only the establishment of the Fund, but its effective takeoff.
He also assured the management of the Fund of Osun’s support.
