The Law Students’ Association of Nigeria (LAWSAN) is the umbrella national body of Law students in Nigeria and is in charge of all Law Faculties in Nigeria.
The leadership of the National Executive Council of LAWSAN, led by His Excellency Anyiam Christian Kelechukwu, GCOL, has noted with dismay and untold sadness, the hardship and lack of integrity associated with the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), that the application started yesterday.
The National Executive Council of LAWSAN, which is the most active and vibrant student body in Nigeria, has received numerous complaints from students cutting across different disciplines in Nigeria about NELFUND. The leadership of the association is being written to, given its place, as a body led by critical thinking and rational law students.
LAWSAN notes that the Loan Fund initiative is a laudable act by the Federal government, but would have been better off as a grant, rather than a loan. We also wish to categorically condemn the lazy website used for the application, as students are subjected to untold penury, for a process that should be seamless and completed within 5 minutes. Many students spent the whole day applying for the loan on the website, frustrated and were still not successful. This is not a feather to the cap of the handlers of the loan.
Regrettably, we also noted through thousands of complaints to our public complaints registry, that the Federal Government decided to pay the school fees directly to the school and to pay a meagre stipend of N20, 000 monthly to students. This is laughable and very disgraceful for our education system and democracy. What can twenty thousand naira do for an average Nigerian student in a month? Can it buy textbooks, sort feeding, print materials or even take care of accomodation? The better step to us would have been for the Federal Government to pay the proposed Five hundred Thousand Naira (500,000) to each successful applicant and allow them to use the bulk money, to solve their problems at once. Again, some students have borrowed to pay their school fees already, if you pay the school fees again to the school that won’t do a refund, it becomes double jeopardy for the said student. The student will now pay for his school fees loan twice and the said school will receive school fees twice, at the detriment of the affected student. It is high time we call a spade a spade and do things right.
The whole process lacks integrity and does not give faith to an average Nigerian student. It seems to be an attempt to mock the poor and less privileged Nigerian students with a badly planned loan process and stipends, that goes to no issue. We can do better in this country.
In conclusion, While LAWSAN appreciates the initiative of the Federal Government, we wish it would have been a grant instead. LAWSAN is calling for a total reshuffle and overhaul of the NELFUND Loan apparatus. The Website should be updated and Federal Government should employ young Nigerian Tech experts, we are not lacking in them. Again, the money, both school fees and stipends should be paid directly to successful students account at a go, not in divided stipends. Students should be allowed to pay their school fees by themselves and receive the money at once, so they can do something meaningful with it. There’s no point in giving peanuts to students and expecting them to use it to climb a mountain. We can’t continue like this.
Signed,
ANYIAM CHRISTIAN KELECHUKWU, GCOL,
National President LAWSAN,
On behalf of,
LAW STUDENTS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA.
