• Prescribes jail terms for parents of 20m uneducated children
Senate, yesterday, passed the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2024. The resolution came after it considered the report of the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND.
Chairman of the panel, Muntari Dandutse (APC: Katsina South) presented the report at plenary. President Bola Tinubu had, last Wednesday, transmitted the bill to the National Assembly for consideration and passage.
The upper legislative chamber had given the piece of legislation accelerated hearing by suspending relevant sections of its standing rules and referred it to the committee of whole for consideration.
After the debate on the bill, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, referred the bill to the relevant committee for further legislative work and report back in one week.
The bill seeks to provide easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, established in the Act with a view to providing education for all Nigerians.
Some amendments sought by Tinubu, according to an explanatory memorandum made available to reporters include “the establishment of the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as a corporate body that can sue and be sued in its name and has the power to acquire, hold and dispose of movable and immovable property for the purpose of its functions.”
BESIDES, the Green has proposed a six- month jail term for erring parents and guardians of out-of-school children. It, consequently, sought establishment of mobile courts for enforcement of the Universal Basic Education Act.
Akpabio, specifically urged the states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to adopt his measures in Akwa Ibom State when he was governor, which entailed six months’ imprisonment for parents or guardians of children roaming the streets or farming during school hours.
The resolution followed a motion sponsored by Idiat Adebule (APC: Lagos West) on the 20 million out-of-school kids in Nigeria. She said it has become worrisome, going by the 2022 report of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which revealed that about 20 million Nigerian children, representing 10 per cent of the country’s 200 million population, were out of school.
In his contribution, Adams Oshiomhole (APC: Edo North), stressed that the menace must be urgently addressed to check poverty and crime. Others, including former Senate President, Ahmad Lawan (APC: Yobe North),
Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau (APC: Kano North) and Mohammed Monguno (APC: Borno North), charged the government at all levels to swiftly arrest the trend.
