Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has vowed to review the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and introduce debt forgiveness for qualifying Nigerian students if elected.
Atiku’s position was disclosed by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in response to President Bola Tinubu’s recent post on X, where the president defended NELFUND while criticising Atiku’s economic proposals.
Shaibu described Tinubu’s presentation of NELFUND as evidence that education had become more affordable as dishonest,arguing that the government first allowed education costs to rise before offering loans to students struggling with the increases.
“Celebrating NELFUND as proof that education has become affordable under your government is like setting school fees on fire and then boasting that you lent students a bucket of water,” he said.
He further described the policy as witchcraft economics,alleging that government had created the financial burden with one hand and offered students debt with the other.
According to Shaibu, Atiku has already reviewed the existing student-loan framework and believes young Nigerians should not be forced to begin their working lives burdened by education debt.
“Education should open doors, not mortgage the future,” he said, adding that Atiku’s approach would focus on reducing the cost of education and forgiving qualifying student debts.
Shaibu also dismissed claims that Atiku’s proposed intervention to reduce energy costs would affect NELFUND, workers’ salaries or the minimum wage.
He challenged the presidency to publish the figures supporting its claims, insisting that cheaper energy and transportation would make workers’ incomes stretch further and reduce the financial pressure on students and families.
“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 declared.
