‘Loan is a liability’ — Atiku criticises Tinubu’s NELFUND, promises student debt forgiveness if elected

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says he will reduce the underlying cost of education and provide forgiveness for qualifying student debts if elected president of Nigeria.

In a statement issued on Tuesday,  Phrank Shaibu, senior special assistant on public communication to Atiku, said the former vice-president has reviewed the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) policy.

Shaibu said Atiku was responding to President Bola Tinubu’s criticism of his economic proposals ahead of the 2027 general election.

He said the former vice-president “believes education should not begin with a mountain of debt hanging over a young Nigerian’s future”.

“The good news for Nigerian students is that Atiku has reviewed the current student-loan policy,” the statement reads.

“His approach will reduce the underlying cost of education and, after review, provide forgiveness for qualifying student debts so that young Nigerians can graduate with hope rather than repayment burdens. Education should open doors, not mortgage the future.”

Shaibu accused the current administration of making education more expensive for Nigerians, lending students money to survive the increase, and demanding applause for the intervention.

“That is not affordability. It is witchcraft economics: create the burden with one hand, offer debt with the other, and demand applause for the intervention,” he said.

“A student loan is not a scholarship. It is a liability.

“The proper test of an education policy is whether ordinary families can educate their children without being pushed into debt merely to keep them in school.”

He said a student loan is not a scholarship but a liability, adding that the proper test of an education policy is whether ordinary families can educate their children without being pushed into debt merely to keep them in school.

He said when students increasingly require loans because the underlying cost of education has become prohibitive, the government should not parade the loan itself as evidence that the system is working.

‘PUBLISH YOUR CALCULATIONS’

Shaibu condemned what he described as the current administration’s attempt to use NELFUND as a “shield against” Atiku’s cost-of-living proposal.

“You now want Nigerians to believe that making fuel cheaper will somehow threaten student loans, workers’ salaries and the minimum wage. That is fearmongering dressed up as economics,” Shaibu he said.

He also faulted the administration’s claim that Atiku’s proposed targeted and capped production support could affect NELFUND, salaries or the minimum wage, describing it as “fallacious”.

Shaibu challenged the Tinubu administration to publish its calculations showing how Atiku’s proposal would affect NELFUND and workers’ wages.

“If your government has the arithmetic, Bola, publish it. Show Nigerians, line by line, how a transparently budgeted subsidy tied to Nigerian crude and domestic refining suddenly empties NELFUND or workers’ pay packets,” he said.

Shaibu said Atiku’s subsidy argument was aimed at reducing the cost of living by lowering energy and transportation costs.

He said the Tinubu’s government can not make life more expensive and then discourage students from supporting cheaper fuel on the grounds that it would affect their loans.

“You cannot make life painfully expensive, push students towards debt to survive the consequences, and then frighten those same students that cheaper fuel will take their loans away,” he said.

“Nor can you tell workers that a policy designed to restore value to their wages will somehow take those wages from them. That is not economic reform. It is scarecrow propaganda built on witchcraft economics.”

In recent weeks, Atiku’s camp and the presidency have been locked in repeated social media exchanges following the former vice-president’s criticism of the government’s management of the funds saved from petrol subsidy removal.(TheCable)