It’s Primitive To Give Loans To Students Who Can’t Find Jobs After Graduation – Sowore Tells Tinubu
Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore has strongly criticised President Bola Tinubu’s student loan policy, calling it “an antiquated idea.”
He expressed his concerns about implementing such a policy in a country struggling with rising unemployment and worsening poverty levels.
Sowore made these remarks during an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday evening, where he assessed the Tinubu administration’s performance two years after taking office.
He did not hold back in his response, painting a bleak picture of Nigeria’s current condition under Tinubu.
He said: “We are being compared with Sudan in terms of the likelihood of a place where a child won’t live up to 5 years after they were born. We have become a nation that has pushed people not into poverty, but this time around, into multidimensional poverty.
“In 1970, there were less than 7 million Nigerians in multidimensional poverty. In 2025, there are over 170 million Nigerians. The minimum wage in 1975 is better than that of 2025. So tell me in which area did they promise to help this country that they have assisted the country?”
“They promised that there will be renewed hope but everywhere is renewed hopelessness,” he said.
Sowore also criticised the student loan scheme introduced by the federal government, pointing out that it places an unnecessary burden on young Nigerians who are unlikely to find employment after graduation.
He recalled his own experience as a student in Nigeria, contrasting it with the economic hardship that students face now.
“I went to the University of Lagos, paid N19 for accommodation and N45 for school fees. How can you ask me to applaud somebody who is giving loans for people to go to school? I went to school in the US. I paid loans, and that was the worst decision I ever made. People are getting depressed, committing suicide in the US because of student loans.”
In a sharp rebuke of the Tinubu administration, he labelled the loan policy as outdated and unjust in a country where the elite continue to benefit from state resources without making meaningful contributions to the economy.
“I am using this to tell you that it is an antiquated idea (for Tinubu Government) that you ask people who are not going to find jobs when they leave the university to take loan to go to school but you are subsidising people who do nothing in the country with huge amount of money,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) recently commenced a comprehensive investigation into alleged discrepancies surrounding the disbursement of student loans under the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
This action followed reports alleging that at least 51 tertiary institutions were implicated in illegal deductions and exploitation related to the NELFUND scheme.
These institutions were alleged to have made unauthorised deductions ranging from N3,500 to N30,000 from each student’s institutional fees received through the loan fund.
Open source revealed significant gaps in the financial disbursement process, alleging that while the federal government reportedly released N100 billion for the scheme, only N28.8 billion was disbursed to students, leaving an unaccounted sum of N71.2 billion.
The Commission confirmed that its Chairman’s Special Task Force immediately swung into action upon receiving the report. Letters of investigation and invitations were dispatched to key stakeholders, including the Director-General of the Budget Office, the Accountant-General of the Federation, and senior officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Additionally, the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of NELFUND were invited to provide documentation and explanations relevant to the case. According to the Commission, the responses received were critically analysed, and interviews were conducted with the concerned individuals.
According to the ICPC, its strength of investigation revealed that the total money received by NELFUND as of March 19, 2024, was N203.8 billion.
“The breakdown showed that N10 billion was an allocation from the Federation Allocation Account Committee, N50 billion was from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, N71.9 billion was from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, while another N71.9 billion was also from the same Tertiary Education Trust Fund.,” it said.
The ICPC discovered that, from its inception to that point, approximately N44,200,933,649.00 had been disbursed to various institutions, benefiting a total of 299 institutions.
To date, the total amount disbursed to 299 beneficiary institutions stands at approximately N44.2 billion, with 293,178 students having benefited from the fund.
The ICPC confirmed that a clear case of discrepancies has NOT been established in the administration of the student loan scheme and announced that its investigation will now extend to beneficiary institutions and individual student.
Hafsoh Isiaq is a graduate of Linguistics. An avid writer committed to creative, high-quality research and news reportage. She has considerable experience in writing and reporting across a variety of platforms including print and online.
