Enrol C’River varsity, alumni task gov
Miffed by the revelation that 115 out of the 151 state-owned tertiary institutions are yet to upload data of their students on the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) portal to enable them access the scheme, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the affected institutions to do the needful.
In a statement yesterday, NANS President, Lucky Emonefe, berated the tertiary institutions for what he called lack of commitment and urgency on their part.
He said the association will continue to monitor the situation closely, even as he called on the affected institutions to immediately ensure that all students have the opportunity to benefit from the gesture.
Describing the development as disheartening, the NANS President expressed shock that the affected institutions are not taking advantage of this golden opportunity.
Emonefe said: “We call on the management of these institutions to prioritisse the uploading of their students’ data on the loan board portal before the deadline. Education is a fundamental right, and every student deserves access to financial support to further their studies.
“NANS will continue to monitor the situation closely and call on the remaining institutions to immediately ensure that all students have the opportunity to benefit from this loan scheme. We will not stand by and allow any student to be denied access to education due to administrative negligence.
“Failure to make this provision available to the NELFUND portal within the next 48 hours will leave us with the only option of rolling out our action plans against the erring institutions.”
SIMILARLY, the University of Cross River State (UniCross) Alumni Association has called on the state government to facilitate enlistment of the ivory tower in the scheme.
The group made the appeal following its omission. The association’s National President, Dr. Inyali Peter, regretted that UniCross students, who are among the most disadvantaged in the country, would not benefit, urging Governor Bassey Otu to fast-track the enlistment process.
The body also criticised the university management and governing council for allegedly frustrating their efforts to provide scholarships to outstanding students and promoting disharmony over welfare of students.
Highlighting the state government’s alleged neglect of the university’s infrastructure, “with no completed projects in over 20 years”, the alumni lamented: “We believe this is the least thing the state government, which is controlled by the party at the centre, can do for our students.”
We’ve tried to help but because the management and council never wanted us, they’ve done everything to frustrate us, including going after our revenue base.
“Even though we know past administrations have treated the university like an orphan, we are hopeful that Governor Otu’s commitment to the institution, demonstrated through facilitation of the administrative building before emerging governor, will yield positive results for the university.
“But before we begin to see the results, we want the state government to prioritise the welfare of the students by ensuring the university is allowed to participate in the scheme.”
