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Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the Nigerian Government’s student loan policy, saying he would reduce the cost of education and introduce debt forgiveness for qualifying student borrowers if elected president in 2027.
Atiku’s position was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in response to President Bola Tinubu’s recent criticism of his economic proposals.
Shaibu said Atiku had reviewed the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) policy and believed students should not have to take on heavy debts simply to access education.
He said Atiku’s proposed approach would focus on lowering the underlying cost of education while providing relief for eligible student debts after a review.
“The good news for Nigerian students is that Atiku has reviewed the current student-loan policy,” the statement reads.
“His approach will reduce the underlying cost of education and, after review, provide forgiveness for qualifying student debts so that young Nigerians can graduate with hope rather than repayment burdens. Education should open doors, not mortgage the future.”
Shaibu also accused the Tinubu administration of making education more expensive and then offering loans to students to cope with the higher costs.
He argued that borrowing to fund education should not be presented as a solution to affordability, stressing that a student loan creates a financial obligation rather than providing a scholarship.
“That is not affordability. It is witchcraft economics: create the burden with one hand, offer debt with the other, and demand applause for the intervention,” he said.
“A student loan is not a scholarship. It is a liability.
“The proper test of an education policy is whether ordinary families can educate their children without being pushed into debt merely to keep them in school.”
Shaibu further rejected the presidency’s claim that Atiku’s proposal for targeted and capped production support could undermine funding for NELFUND, workers’ salaries or the minimum wage.
He challenged the Nigerian Government to publish its calculations showing how the proposal would affect student loans and workers’ wages.
“If your government has the arithmetic, Bola, publish it. Show Nigerians, line by line, how a transparently budgeted subsidy tied to Nigerian crude and domestic refining suddenly empties NELFUND or workers’ pay packets,” he said.
Shaibu said Atiku’s position on subsidies was aimed at reducing living costs by lowering energy and transportation expenses.
He argued that Nigerians should not be encouraged to rely on student loans because of rising living costs and then be warned that policies aimed at reducing fuel costs could affect those loans.
According to him, the same argument could not be used to suggest that measures intended to improve workers’ purchasing power would deprive them of their wages.
“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 said.
“Nor can you tell workers that a policy designed to restore value to their wages will somehow take those wages from them. That is not economic reform. It is scarecrow propaganda built on witchcraft economics,” he added.
