…Warns Against Turning Loan Scheme into Discriminatory Policy
By Tina Amanda
The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has called on the Federal Government and Trustees of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to abandon plans to limit access to student loans based on specific courses deemed “high demand” or “practical” for national development.
The group criticized this move as discriminatory and a betrayal of the Fund’s mandate to provide equitable access to higher education.
At a recent virtual event, Student Loan Masterclass, NELFUND Managing Director Akintunde Sawyer revealed plans to prioritize loans for students in fields such as engineering, medicine, and information technology, which he argued were better aligned with national economic needs and offered greater employability.
Meanwhile, disciplines like language studies would receive less priority, as they are perceived to contribute less to development and offer limited job opportunities.
CAPPA condemned this proposal, warning that it marginalizes students pursuing humanities, arts, and social sciences, thereby perpetuating systemic inequalities.
According to the organization, “This unfair attempt to narrow the policy’s beneficiaries comes at a time when tuition for so-called “marketable” courses have skyrocketed across public higher education institutions, with fees surging from N19,000 to over N200,000 in schools like the University of Lagos and Ibadan, primarily due to worsening economic conditions, which have forced poor students to drop out or resort to undignifying activities to generate money for their school fees.
“Ironically, even graduates from the purported economically viable fields are struggling in Nigeria’s job market, where the unemployment rate remains at an all-time high, and the minimum wage is too low to stem the tide of the Japa Syndrome, a survival trend that has seen Nigerian youth, workers and professional, flee the country in droves in search of better opportunities abroad.
“If even these “practical” fields offer no secure future within the country, what is the rationale behind sidelining other disciplines? If the state cannot create jobs or maintain an economy that supports diverse intellectual dreams and pursuits, why should students bear the consequences of its failures and shortcomings?” queried the CAPPA Statement.
“By tethering education to perceived economic value, the state is effectively telling us that learning only matters if it can be sold on the open market. Sadly, this misthinking will only fuel the growing frustration and disillusionment among young Nigerians.
“This narrow focus ignores the vital role of diverse academic disciplines in fostering critical thinking and holistic national development,” said Zikora Ibeh, CAPPA’s Senior Programme Manager for Research and Policy. She noted that even graduates in “practical” fields face challenges in Nigeria’s job market, with high unemployment rates and mass emigration of skilled workers.
The organization also highlighted skyrocketing tuition fees for so-called marketable courses, with some public universities raising fees from N19,000 to over N200,000, further widening the gap for financially disadvantaged students.
CAPPA warned that prioritizing economic value over intellectual diversity could undermine the teaching profession, discourage students from less lucrative fields, and diminish critical academic contributions.
“This discriminatory policy is reminiscent of past regressive actions, such as the removal of history from the secondary school curriculum, which deprived generations of students of their heritage,” the group stated. It added that the proposal could exacerbate teacher shortages, low morale, and systemic underfunding in the education sector.
The organization pointed out that the 2025 federal budget allocates only 7.3% to education—far below the global recommendation of 15–20%—leaving classrooms under-resourced and educators overburdened.
CAPPA urged students, academics, labor unions, and civil society to reject the proposed changes, calling for an inclusive vision that values all disciplines equally. The group emphasized the need for increased funding for education, vocational training programs, and infrastructural development to create a supportive environment for national progress.
“The Federal Government and NELFUND must rethink plans to turn the student loan into an anti-intellectual scheme. Every field of study contributes to collective development, and no discipline should be sidelined,” the statement concluded.
