Unconstitutionality of Sections 17 and 18 of the Law

I have always been an advocate of education loan for students. Readers will recall that as late as 2018, I

wrote on the urgent need to assist poor Nigerians by making provisions for loans for students. Attempts made by previous governments were frustrated by the management of the loan facilities.

In Section 7.1 of the Students’ Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2023, a special Committee was established to be known as “The Committee” which is responsible for the supervision and disbursement of the loan. The Section reads as follows:

7 (1) There shall be for the Fund a Special Committee (in this Act referred to as “the Committee”) which shall be responsible for the performance of the functions of the Fund.

(2) The Committee shall consist of – (a) the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria as the Chairman; (b)theSecretaryoftheFundwhoshall be appointed by the Chairman;
(c) the Minister responsible for Education;
(d) the Chairman, National Universities Commission;
(e) a Representative of Vice-Chancellors forum of all Nigerian Universities;

(f) a Representative of the Rectors Forums of all Nigerian Polytechnics and Provosts Forum of all Colleges of Education in Nigeria

(g) the Minister responsible for finance or his Representative;

(h)the Auditor-General for the Federation

(i) a representative of the Nigerian Labour Congress

(j) a representative of the Nigerian Bar Association; and

(k) a representative of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

My first observation is that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Chairman of the Committee, who will also appoint the Secretary.

Surprisingly, the Minister of Education, who in law and in fact, is responsible for Education, is only a member. I wonder who is more competent to deal with matters relating to education, particularly students’ welfare, including funding and their comfort.

I am of the view that premium ought to be placed on efforts that will promote quality education. In addition, consideration should be given to the quality, integrity and competence of those who will disburse the money. In all other climes, the Central Bank Governor is almost an invisible man because of his importance as the heart-beat of the country. He is supposed not to belong to any political party.
To me, the Minister of Education is the appropriate person and not the Governor of the Central Bank. Under Section 9 of Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007, a Governor of the Central Bank is “mandated to devote the whole of his time to the service of the Bank and should not engage in any full or part-time employment or vocational whether remunerated or not except such PERSONAL or CHARITABLE causes as may be determined by the Board and so on”.
In any case, if the Governor is to serve on any other Board, it is only the Board of the Central Bank that is empowered to approve his appointment to serve on any other Board.

A cursory look at the Central Bank Law shows that the Governor of Central Bank is clothed with so much responsibilities that his appointment as the Chairman of the Students’ Loans will affect his effective performance as the Chairman of the Loans Board. Time and space will not allow me to publish the responsibilities of the Central Bank Governor under the Act. But it suffices to say that the economy of the country in a monetary system is so enormous that he should be spared the onerous duty of supervising the Students’ Loans Scheme.

In my previous articles, I referred to earlier Education Bank Act and the White Paper and why in the White Paper, they decided to wind it up. The reason why it did not perform was because it was managed by civil servants.

Apart from the Representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Nigerian Bar Association and Academic Staff

Union of Nigerian University, representatives of Vice Chancellors, Rectors, every other person is a civil servant.

One of the major problems of this country is the poor performance of the civil service which people derisively refer to as Civil Service Bureaucratic System. I have been a victim of this bureaucratic system almost every year. If you are bound in law to apply for approval from any section of the ministry for a grant, count yourself lucky if the application is granted within a year.

Words cannot explain adequately what my university suffered when the university obtained a donation from a US-based philanthropic foundation for the supply of sensitive medical equipment worth millions in dollars.

Although the law allows such equipment to be custom-free, the Customs Department insisted on obtaining formal approval from the Minister of Finance. We applied formally, but after several months of delay, the university had to pay custom duties to prevent further accumulation of demurrage and yet no approval was given till today.

We thereafter approached the President who later approved the sum of N10 million out of the over N500 million paid as custom duties.

I am of the firm view that for this Students Loan to succeed, the President should amend the law and appoint the members of the Committee, including the Chairman, from successful and apolitical entrepreneurs and professionals.