In the most simplified term, loan entails borrowing money which one cannot afford, for a specific purpose or project. The central issue is affordability i.e. lacking the financial ability or muscle to execute a certain plan or project. Therefore, when one seeks to obtain a loan, it means such person lacks money/fund to carry out his plans. Loan cannot be requested when the need has not arisen, the need in this context is the lack of fund or non affordability, when there is a plan or a project to be executed - this implies inability to afford the financial cost of executing intended project.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) is a Federal Government initiative intended to assist students of tertiary institutions who are incapable of affording their education, with the intention of paying back after graduation. The target of this Programme is specifically on students who are unable to meet the financial demands of tertiary education. The implementation process of the programme has to be unfolded in a manner which the beneficiaries and prospective beneficiaries be made to understand explicitly, its objectives, in order to avoid the usual Nigerians' attitude towards government's programmes - this trumpet is being blown based on the glimpses of manifestation of the issue raised above.
The administrators of NELFUND, for sustainability sake, should sound a continuous note of warning to beneficiaries and intended beneficiaries, to be well informed about the status and purpose of the programme - granting loan to students of tertiary institutions. Loans are made to be repaid; it is not an empowerment programme. Therefore, they must be well orientated or educated about what the specified problem it intends to address.
This piece is motivated by the massive interest indicated by students, prompting me questions: do these large percentage of beneficiaries and intended beneficiaries have the challenge of meeting their financial demands in school? Have Nigerian parents and guardians become so poorer such that they cannot afford their wards' financial demands in school? Do they know it is a loan which will be paid back after graduation? It is time to end the mortgaging of our collective future. It is time to change our attitudes and orientations towards government's programmes, else the sustainable development being earnestly graved for will continue to elude us.
For crying out loud, if your parents or guardian can afford your education or meet your financial needs in school, you do not need the loan. Do not create unnecessary and avoidable financial burden for your future - don't think of beating the system because it will not work. Give this opportunity for the real financially disabled students to grab, for this country to move forward. It is this same attitude that has denied the country development: the perception of seeing government as a well for exhaustively scooping and storing water for future use, while denying others who are thirsty, the opportunity to only quench their thirst. You don't have need for the stored water at home which you exhausted from the well, yet the well is empty, surrounded by citizens who are thirsty. Why not allow it in the well so that those in need can have access to at any time (government is a common patrimony, citizens should not exploit it, in order not to adversely affect others).
The NELFUND programme can be collectively supported to achieve sustainability in order to guarantee the future of the children. If this Programme is allowed to continue, i.e. devoid of exploitation, obtaining tertiary education, especially by the financially disabled citizens, will no longer be a challenge in Nigeria. LET NIGERIANS TAKE THEIR COLLECTIVE FUTURE INTO CONSIDERATION!