The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Bauchi State zone, has rejected student loans in favour of grants to fund their education.
The ASUU Zonal body revealed that it was compiling records of students who would likely be dropping out of school because of arbitrary fee hikes at the end of the current academic session.
The zonal coordinator, associate Professor Lazarus Maigoro, who disclosed this during the award of scholarships to 19 indigent undergraduates in the zone at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, according to Daily Trust, said the aim of collecting the students’ data was to use it engage the government to review its decision on the issue of the loans and replace them with grants.
Maigoro said, “The question is: who will pay the loan? What is the fate of those who cannot access it? The psychological trauma the students will be subjected to due to the loan while still in their studies will affect their performance negatively.
“The thought that they would graduate with a loan of N4million and above without the capacity to pay back is another psychological torture on them.”
Also speaking at the occasion, the ATBU branch Chairman of ASUU, Ibrahim Inuwa, assured that the union would continue to act as a socially responsible organisation by fighting for the collective interest of quality tertiary education.
He revealed that the scholarship award, a yearly event would always seek out brilliant but indigent students for the recognition and award.