The Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Owunari Georgewill, says the Nigerian student loan programme records low participation in the South-South and South-East regions because of deep-rooted cultural resistance.
Speaking at a Strategic Engagement and Sensitisation Campaign by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) in Port-Harcourt, Georgewill said families in these regions are reluctant to associate their children with debt, even as the loan was interest-free.
He, therefore, advised the government to make the programme a repayable grant, noting that this would make parents feel their children are not going to school through loan.
“Despite our advocacy, the word `loan’ is really discouraging students from participating in the scheme.
“We can coin it to be a repayable grant which will make parents feel their children are not going to school through loan”, he said.
On the allegations of fraud associated with the scheme, he said they were baseless and the purveyors were misguided.
The Vice Chancellor cautioned against such reports, adding that it could potentially damage a critical national initiative.
He said the University of Port Harcourt has maintained a clean record since the programme’s inception.
According to him, UNIPORT charges N78,000 tuition per year which is one of the lowest among federal universities.
He said the low tuition fee made it easier for many families to afford the payment, without subscribing to the loan scheme.
Georgewill disclosed that of the institution’s student population of 40,000, only 1,800 were currently benefiting from the loan scheme.
A former National Secretary, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), David Bariereka, corroborated the Vice Chancellor, that UNIPORT had not been the subject of any official complaint regarding misappropriation of NELFUND disbursements.
The Managing Director, NELFUND, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, reiterated the agency’s commitment to transparency.
Represented by Dr. Zino Ugboma, Director, Administration, NELFUND, Sawyerr said media narratives on the alleged fraud were prematured and could do more harm than good.
“The system may not be perfect, but we are trying to make it as humanly effective as possible.
“Sabotage and misinformation can ruin what should be a transformative programme for the country”, he said.
Sawyerr warned against sensationalism and urged stakeholders to focus on refining the system for the benefit of Nigerians.
He disclosed that the number of students that signed up for the loan on NELFUND portal in UNIPORT had increased to 4,000, making the school the highest among institutions in Rivers State.
“As of this morning, we have about 600,000 students nationwide who have registered for the programme. Uniport’s 4,000 students are a major part of that success.
“Of all the higher institutions in Rivers State, Uniport has the highest number of registrants”, he said.
The Tide’s source reports that the NELFUND’s officials also visited Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. (IAUOE), Port Harcourt, for its sensitisation campaign.

Theresa Frederick & Charity Amiso

A lecturer with the Federal University, Otueke, Bayelsa State, Prof Okechukwu Edward Okeke, has advocated for a constitutional provision for the conduct of run-off elections in situations where the President did not win the majority votes of the people in an election.
Prof. Okeke made the suggestion recently in a keynote lecture delivered at an annual conference of the Department of History and Diplomatic Studies, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUOE) in Port Harcourt.
In the lecture titled, “Leadership, Security and National Development”, Okeke said the criteria in which the winner of the presidential election in the country emerges by a simple majority does not command the respect of the people.
He advocated for a constitutional provision to allow for a run-off election to ensure that the President of the country has the majority mandate and popular votes of the people.
According to him, a situation where the incumbent, President, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu was declared winner by just 37percent of the voting populations, puts his legitimacy in doubt and may not command the respect and obedience of the people.
He, therefore, called for a constitution amendment to allow for run-off election in order to strengthen the legitamacy of the President of the country.
“The President’s authority can be challenged, but if he has the majority votes, he can always get the needed support of the people.
“We need to strengthen the legitimacy and authority of the President by conducting run-off elections between the leading candidate and the runners-up in an election to ensure that the winner obtained the popular and majority mandate of the people”, Prof.Okeke stated.
The lecturer also called for a review of the adoption of just a primary school certificate as the educational qualification for the Nigerian Presidential candidates and other contestants in elections in the country.
According to him, the country and the world has advanced in education and technological transformation, expressing the need for the adoption of higher qualifications to qualify candidates to run an election to the office of the President, Governor and National Assembly of Nigeria.
Prof Okeke harped on the inevitable need to also review the age limits for presidential and governorship aspirants in the country’s elections, suggesting that all those above the 75 years age mark should not be allowed to run for the office of the President and Governor in Nigeria.
The university teacher also frowned at a situation where the issues of rotational presidency is only at the whims and caprices of political parties, expressing the need for rotational presidency to be entrenched in the democratic Constitution of the country to ensure traditional compliance by all political parties’ primaries and other relevant way of constituting legal government in the country.
He recalled that under Sani Abacha’s regime in1995, there was a constitutional amendment with a provision for rotational presidency, and expressed regrets as to why the 1999 Constitution did not capture it.
He further explained that “The state of origin of the President or the Governor matters a lot under the Nigerian setting.
“For power rotation to be effective, both the President and his Vice should be chosen from the same zone. It will remove the fears of another zone taking over the slot in the case of the death in office of an incumbent President of Nigeria or the Governor of a State.
“The idea of balancing of ticket by political parties during selections of candidates for the office of President and Governors is a threat to the nation’s democracy, especially by zoning the office of the President and Vice President to difference zones.
“It happened in 2010 when President Yara Adua passed on and his Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, took over and even contested for another term in office to the detriment of the North.
“That, to an extent, threatened the political stability of Nigeria. So, I’m advising that parties should get somebody from the same zone as the running mate to the President or Governor so that if the incumbent dies in office or is found wanting by impeachment or resignation, the next person from the same area will assume the position as it is done in parliamentary democracies”, the Prof. stated.
On security, the lecturer restated his support for the decentralization of the Nigerian Police to allow for State Policing model, emphasising that there is a consensus among the state Governors for state-owned police organization.
He, therefore, called on National Assembly to expedite actions on the amendment to the constitution to allow for States’ participation in the security of the nation.

Enoch Epelle

The Ido Obolo Andoni fishermen Association has faulted the manner in which Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria is handling investigations relating to the recent oil spill in the area.
In an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, the association called for a holistic assessment of the recent oil spills which occurred in the Bonny River.
According to the President of the association, Mr. Udung Usun, the association is worried that SPDC limited its investigation to Oyorokoto Community and ignored other communities affected by the spill.
According to the text of the briefing, the association said the spills, which occurred in the Bonny River and spread to the Andoni River, affected several communities, including Oyorokoto, adding that limiting the investigation to just one community is unacceptable to the people.
It stressed the need for the multinational company to also include other communities along the Andoni River pin its investigation, adding that the spillage caused monumental damages to their means of livelihood.
“The Ido Obolo Andoni Fishermen Association is worried about the activities of Shell Oil Company limited in handling the spillage that occurred in Bonny and spread out to Andoni territories.
“They expressed displeasure over the manner in which Shell Oil Company limited carried out its oil spills assessment”, the text stated in part.
Usun urged Shell Oil Company Limited to carry out a holistic assessment in order not to deny other communities their compensation.