Professor Olasebikan Fakulojo, the vice chancellor of Joseph Ayodele Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State, has criticised the federal government’s exclusion of private university students from the student loan scheme, describing it as an act of “injustice.”
Speaking at a media briefing ahead of JABU’s 15th convocation ceremony, Prof. Fakulojo questioned the rationale behind excluding private university students from accessing loans designed to support Nigerian students in tertiary institutions.
He emphasised that all Nigerian students, regardless of the institutions they attend, deserve equal access to the scheme.
He argued that the Nigerian University Student Loan Scheme Act does not explicitly exclude private university students and stressed that such exclusion is inequitable, given that private universities contribute to public revenues through taxes, unlike public institutions.
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To ensure fairness, Fakulojo proposed a maximum loan cap, such as N500,000 or N1 million per student, to account for the varying tuition fees across institutions.
The vice chancellor highlighted the achievements of JABU ahead of the convocation, where 626 graduates will receive degrees, including 50 first-class honours and 114 postgraduate awards (PGD, MSc, MA, and PhD).
Among notable figures to be honoured with honorary doctorate degrees is Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, wife of President Bola Tinubu.