The House of Representatives has warned public tertiary institutions in the country against taking advantage of the Students Loans and Access to Higher Education in Nigeria Act to increase their tuition fees.
The warning followed the adoption of a motion by Terseer Ugbor (APC-Benue) at plenary on Thursday in Abuja.
The house also resolved to convene a legislative summit on student loans with all education sector stakeholders.
Moving the motion, Mr. Ugbor said financial support from family members and relatives was often considered a traditional source for funding higher education.
He said in the past 60 years, such funding indicated that governments in both developed and developing countries had put in place various student loan and educational credit schemes to enable students to borrow towards higher education funding.
The lawmaker said, “After several years of unsuccessful attempts by successive administrations to introduce students loans, scholarships and other educational credit schemes, the 9th National Assembly passed the Students Loans Bill.”
Mr. Ugbor said the objectives and intent of the student loan were patriotic and would impact positive access to higher education in Nigeria, especially among underprivileged citizens.
He, however, said several critical omissions and identifiable bottlenecks would frustrate the law’s successful implementation.
According to him, this is if immediate further legislative action was not taken to ensure its efficient implementation.
The lawmaker said there was an urgent need to convene a legislative summit with all key stakeholders to develop a strategy to ensure the smooth implementation of the Act for the benefit of indigent Nigerian students.
(NAN)