The Rector, Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara, Professor Emmanuel Ufuophu-Biri, has emphasised the necessity for the Federal Authorities’s pupil loans programme to prioritise financially deprived and weak populations.
This, he stated, must be restricted to college students who genuinely want monetary help.
Ufuophu-Biri suggested that the scheme must be restricted to college students from low-income backgrounds, fairly than being universally out there, to maximise its affect on those that are most economically deprived.
In an interview with The Guardian, the Professor of Mass Communication and Journalism applauded the Federal Authorities’s efforts to help college students in furthering their training with ease.
He, nonetheless, harped on the necessity for sensitisation of the programme to the grassroots, utilizing the Nationwide Affiliation of Nigerian College students (NANS), and College students Union Governments of particular person tertiary establishments as factors of contacts.
“I had a sideline dialogue with the Managing Director of the Nigerian Schooling Mortgage Fund (NELFUND) and the President of Nationwide Affiliation of Nigerian College students (NANS).
“I noticed in them the real pursuit and intention for the Nigerian college students to achieve from this mortgage. Within the first place, that is what we learn of in different climes.
“Nevertheless, from what I’ve come to see and know of loans exterior this nation, pupil mortgage shouldn’t be basic. You may’t have anyone whose father is a billionaire making use of for such a mortgage. It must be restricted to some extent to comparatively deprived folks to have the ability to pay.
“It ought to really be for college students who’re much less ready than others to pay their charges. As it’s proper now, it’s basic. The heads of establishments, NANS, and SUGs in numerous establishments ought to encourage college students to subscribe to it.”
