Student Loans: Katsayal Commends Tinubu, Radda, Calls for Stronger Support for NELFUND

The Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Transportation, Daura, Katsina State, Hon. Prof. Umar Adam Katsayal, mni, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly for their respective roles in strengthening access to higher education through the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act.

Katsayal, who spoke at a sensitisation programme organised for students of tertiary institutions across the Northwest region, described the student loan initiative as a significant policy intervention capable of reducing the financial burden of higher education on students and their families, while creating greater opportunities for qualified Nigerian youths to pursue tertiary education.

The Vice-Chancellor noted that the passage of the legislation by the National Assembly and its subsequent assent by President Tinubu represented an important step towards addressing one of the major barriers to access to higher education in the country.

He said the success of the initiative, however, would depend not only on the availability of funds but also on the effectiveness of the administrative structures through which the loans are processed and disbursed to beneficiaries.

While commending the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, for what he described as its extensive financial interventions and commitment to supporting students, Katsayal drew attention to some of the operational challenges confronting participating institutions.

He specifically appealed to NELFUND to consider additional budgetary provisions to accommodate bank charges and other administrative and logistical expenses associated with the disbursement of student loans.

According to him, providing such support would enable tertiary institutions to administer the scheme more efficiently and ensure that the resources of the institutions are not unduly stretched by expenses arising from the implementation of the programme.

He stressed that a seamless loan-disbursement system was essential to achieving the central objective of the policy, which, he said, was to ensure that financial constraints do not deprive deserving students of the opportunity to obtain higher education.

The Vice-Chancellor also used the occasion to express the appreciation of the heads of tertiary institutions in the Northwest—including Vice-Chancellors, Provosts and Rectors—to the National Assembly for providing the legislative framework for the student loan scheme and to President Tinubu for assenting to the law.

Katsayal, a Katsina-born academic and university administrator, equally reserved special commendation for the Executive Governor of Katsina State and Chairman of the Northwest Governors’ Forum, Malam Dikko Umar Radda, PhD., CON, for his reception of the academic community and what he described as his sustained commitment to educational development in Katsina State and the wider Northwest region.

He described the governor’s interest in education as particularly significant at a time when the region requires substantial investment in human capital to equip its young population with the knowledge and skills necessary to drive sustainable development.

The Vice-Chancellor’s commendation also underscored the link between education, human capital development and security, particularly in Katsina State, where the government’s efforts to create a safer environment remain critical to the effective functioning of schools and other institutions of learning.

He noted that educational development could hardly be sustained without corresponding attention to the security and welfare of the people, stressing that a secure environment was indispensable for students to learn, teachers to work and institutions to fulfil their mandates.

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Katsayal’s intervention placed him at the intersection of academia, public policy and regional development, as he used the platform not only to advocate improvements in the student loan system but also to draw attention to the developmental efforts of his home state.

As the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Transportation, Daura, an institution strategically connected to Nigeria’s transportation and human-capital needs, Katsayal has continued to project the importance of education, skills development and institutional collaboration in addressing the broader developmental challenges confronting the country.

His remarks therefore combined a strong institutional advocacy for the effective implementation of the Federal Government’s student-loan policy with an expression of confidence in the Katsina State Government’s commitment to education, security and human capital development.