By Olaide Ayinde
No fewer than 3,100 indigent students of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, have benefited from the Federal Government’s students loan scheme.
Fahad Abdullahi, President, Students Union Government, ATBU, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Bauchi on Tuesday.
He said that 3,100 out of the 25,000 student population of the university applied for the loan under the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
Abdullahi said the fund disbursed N256 million to the university to cover school fees for about 3,300 students.
He said the students benefited from the institutional loan and upkeep allowances, adding that the union had scaled up sensitisation activities to mobilise participation in the programme.
The SUG presiden said the union also visited the NELFUND office to address challenges impending seamless application by its members.
He listed the challenges to include non provision of some banks on the application portal, lack of students’ JAMB admission number and lack of an editing column, to enable the applicant to effect corrections in the process.
According to him, the fund promises to introduce new features on the portal to ease cumbersome application processes.
“I visited NelFund office in Abuja and we resolved issues affecting our students, and currently, the federal government has paid the upkeep allowances two days ago which is N20,000 monthly.
“While applying, there is an option for you to apply for institutional loan for school fees and another option for the upkeep allowance. Some students applied only for the institutional fees while others applied both.
“I am happy owing to the fact that the economy is not smiling at us, and seeing the federal government bring this initiative to assuage the pains of students, it’s commendable,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries, Adetoye Olubunmi, lauded the gesture, adding that it would avail them opportunities to further their education and encourage academic excellence.
“It is good to have something like this even though we are not happy that the federal government is no longer subsidising education.
“The students loan scheme is a positive step towards education development,” he said.
Also, Mohammed Hassan, attributed the low participation in the scheme to lack of interest on the part of the students.
Hassan said that many students have high preferences to self sponsorship rather than loans which would be repaid.
He called for comprehensive sensitisation to create awareness and mobilise participation in the scheme. (NAN)
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