Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration over its reliance on student loans as a response to rising education costs, saying Nigerian students should not be forced into debt merely to remain in school.
Mr Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, stated this on Tuesday while reacting to Tinubu’s recent criticism of Atiku’s economic proposals.
Shaibu accused the Federal Government of using the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as a justification for its economic policies, arguing that providing loans to students did not amount to making education affordable.
He said the government could not increase the cost burden on students and families and then present loans as evidence that it had solved the affordability problem.
“Celebrating NELFUND as proof that education has become affordable under your government is like setting school fees on fire and then boasting that you lent students a bucket of water,” he said.
According to him, the proper test of education policy should be whether ordinary Nigerian families could educate their children without being pushed into debt.
He said rising school fees in some institutions had increased the financial pressure on students and parents, forcing many to rely on loans to remain in school.
“A student loan is not a scholarship. It is a liability,” he said.
Shaibu said Atiku had reviewed the current student-loan policy and would seek to reduce the underlying cost of education if elected president.
He added that Atiku’s proposed approach would also provide forgiveness for qualifying student debts after a review of the scheme.
“Education should open doors, not mortgage the future,” he said.
The former vice president’s aide also rejected claims that Atiku’s proposal for targeted support for domestic fuel production would threaten NELFUND, workers’ salaries or the minimum wage.
He challenged the Federal Government to publish the figures supporting such claims.
“If your government has the arithmetic, Bola, publish it. Show Nigerians, line by line, how a transparently budgeted subsidy tied to Nigerian crude and domestic refining suddenly empties NELFUND or workers’ pay packets,” he said.
Shaibu said Atiku’s proposal was aimed at reducing energy and transportation costs, arguing that lower fuel prices would reduce the cost of moving food and manufactured goods and ultimately leave workers with more disposable income.
He said the proposed intervention would be targeted and capped, with Nigerian crude supplied to domestic refineries subject to monitoring and independent auditing.
Shaibu said the objective was to reduce the cost of living rather than allow prices to rise before introducing palliative measures.
He also accused the Tinubu administration of waiting until close to the 2027 elections before announcing new measures to provide cheaper transportation, increase food production and assist vulnerable Nigerians.
“Why did Nigerians have to suffer for more than three years before your government discovered that economic growth must reach ‘the dining table and the pocket’?” he asked.
Shaibu said Atiku would continue to engage Nigerians directly on how to make education and other basic necessities more affordable.
