Mutfwang seeks measures to keep student’s loan beneficiaries in Nigeria

• UNIJOS ranks third in NELFUND loan disbursement
Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has pleaded with the Federal Government to establish a system that prevents beneficiaries, who receive training through the Students Loans scheme, from being tempted to leave the country in search of better opportunities, commonly referred to as the Japa syndrome.

He spoke on Monday night when he hosted the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, in Jos.

According to the governor, the aim of the scheme is to ensure that benefitting students remain in the country to contribute to its development, rather than seeking greener pastures abroad.

Mutfwang, specifically, expressed concern about the devastating effects of brain drain on the healthcare system in Nigeria.

He noted that the mass exodus of highly trained medical professionals, such as doctors, nurses, and specialists, has resulted in severe shortage of skilled healthcare workers.

The trend, he emphasised, does not only undermine the country’s ability to provide adequate healthcare, but also affect the significant investments made in training the affected professionals.

The governor said: “For the medical students particularly, the biggest impact of Japa is in the health sector, where it has left a huge deficit. And we are thinking of investing in training students. But we need to bind them over, because it doesn’t make sense to train a medical doctor, and the next day, he is jetting out of the country. How do we avoid that?

Because if he has access to this kind of scholarship, he would then be trained for export.”

To stem the tide, Mutfwang advocated provision of attractive incentives to encourage retention.

The incentives, he suggested, could include competitive salaries, improved working conditions, opportunities for career advancement, and other benefits that would make practising medicine in the country a more appealing and rewarding option.

In March 2024, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, had disclosed that about 16,000 doctors left the country in the last five years.

He revealed that the country had only 55,000 licensed doctors to serve its growing population of over 200 million.

The Guardian reports that this translates to an average patient-to-doctor ratio of 3,636:1. While the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not have a universally recommended patient-to-doctor ratio, some sources suggest a desirable ratio of one doctor per 1,000 population.

Earlier, the MD/CEO of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, expressed the commitment of the President Bola Tinubu administration in ensuring that no student in public tertiary institutions was denied educational opportunities due to financial constraints.

He used the opportunity to thoroughly explain how the scheme works.

HOWEVER, NELFUND said it had disbursed over N941million to about 7,000 students at University of Jos (UNIJOS).

This, it said, made the university the third highest institution in the country that has received the facility.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Akintunde Sawyerr, stated this yesterday in Jos at a technical session with critical stakeholders in Plateau State regarding the Federal Government’s students’ loan scheme.

He urged tertiary institutions to promptly update their students’ information on the NELFUND portal.

The CEO revealed that the agency will soon convene a meeting with the ICT Directors of beneficiary institutions to troubleshoot and resolve technical difficulties related to loan applications, to ensure a smoother process for all applicants.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNIJOS, Prof. Tanko Ishaya, confirmed the N941million disbursement.

He encouraged students yet to apply to take advantage of the opportunity, and submit their applications, stressing that the scheme was not a scam.