By Tosin Kolade

In June 2023, President Bola Tinubu signed the Student Loan (Access to Higher Education) Act into law, marking an important step forward in the country’s approach to financing tertiary education.The initiative was designed to provide interest-free loans to students in higher institutions, thereby expanding access to education for financially disadvantaged youth.

However, nearly two years on, the scheme’s implementation remains burdened by challenges, prompting growing concern and debate among stakeholders. In response to criticism of the original law, the Federal Government repealed and re-enacted the Act in April 2024.The revised legislation established the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as a corporate entity responsible for managing and disbursing the loans.Notably, the amended version eliminated restrictive eligibility criteria such as income thresholds and guarantor requirements.It also extended the scheme’s coverage to include students enrolled in government-accredited vocational training centres.To streamline access, the application process was simplified, requiring only a valid National Identification Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN).Hence, all submissions were made via the NELFUND portal.In spite of these improvements, the scheme has continued to attract criticism.One of its most vocal opponents is the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).In a recent interview with a national daily, Dr Mwolwus Jurbe, Chairman of ASUU’s University of Jos chapter, outlined the initiative as “fundamentally flawed”.He argued that the scheme was unlikely to benefit its target groups, especially students from low-income families.“The scheme is pushing education out of the reach of the common man,” he said.Jurbe said that, amid high unemployment rates and soaring tuition fees, expecting repayments from indigent students was unrealistic.ASUU also raised alarms over reports that TETFund allocations might be redirected to fund NELFUND.The body warned that dismantling a functional funding mechanism in favour of an untested alternative could jeopardise the future of tertiary education in Nigeria.Meanwhile, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), while generally supportive, has also expressed reservations.The association acknowledged the potential of the scheme to reduce dropout rates, but emphasised that the absence of scholarships or grants rendered it incomplete.NANS President, Comrade Olushola Ladoja, condemned the alleged mismanagement of NELFUND, calling for the dismissal of implicated officials and the publication of the 51 tertiary institutions reportedly involved.“Any vice-chancellor, rector or provost found culpable in the mismanagement of student loans must be removed from office.“Their actions sabotage the Federal Government’s effort to make education accessible to all,’’ Ladoja said.He urged Tinubu to probe the reported diversion of N71.2 billion and criticised NELFUND for excluding the national student leadership from key stakeholder engagements.Additionally, NANS called on the EFCC and ICPC to investigate the matter and advocated for a five-year post-NYSC loan repayment grace period, citing the employment difficulties faced by many recent graduates.Civil society groups have also raised concerns.The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) described the initiative as “badly thought-out, ill-conceived and fundamentally unworkable”.Hassan Soweto, National Coordinator of the ERC, lamented repeated delays in the loan rollout, calling it evidence of poor planning and political inertia.“It is a national embarrassment that almost a year after the law was signed, students are still waiting for funds,” he said.Worthy on note, trust in the scheme further eroded in August 2024 when it was revealed that no tertiary institution in the South-East had been included in the first phase of disbursements.Reacting, the Concerned Igbo Stakeholders Forum (CISF), led by Chukwuma Okenwa, condemned the omission as a deliberate act of marginalisation.Okenwa argued that excluding an entire geopolitical zone from a national programme violated the federal character principle.Although NELFUND claimed South-East schools had failed to respond to verification notices, the CISF rejected this explanation, insisting that at least one compliant institution should have been selected.Similarly, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) expressed concern over NELFUND’s plan to limit eligibility to students in “high-demand” disciplines.Zikora Ibeh, CAPPA’s Senior Programme Manager, warned that the policy could marginalise students in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.“This approach risks deepening inequality by denying support to students whose fields may not be seen as immediately profitable but are crucial to national development,” she said.Also, controversy followed the announcement that the EFCC had donated N50 billion in recovered funds to the loan scheme.A Legal expert, Nnaemeka Ejiofor, cautioned that while well-intentioned, the EFCC lacked constitutional authority to reallocate recovered public funds without National Assembly approval.“Such actions, no matter how well-meaning, set a dangerous precedent,” he warned.Meanwhile, fee hikes across federal and state universities have exacerbated the financial burden on students and their families.In some cases, tuition fees have surged by as much as 1,000 per cent.A University of Lagos student, Michelle Njemanze, shared that her tuition rose from N16,000 to N196,000 in a single academic session.For many, the student loan scheme remains a promise yet to be fulfilled.Although the Tinubu administration allocated N200 billion to the scheme in the 2024 budget and appointed banking executive Jim Ovia as chairman of the NELFUND board, disbursement delays continued well into May 2025.In response to growing dissatisfaction, NELFUND recently announced a major overhaul of its application system.NELFUND Chief Executive Officer, Mr Akintunde Sawyerr, recently revealed that the agency was deploying a fully digitised, user-friendly platform to streamline the loan process and eliminate bureaucratic delays.“Education is a right, not a privilege; with this technology-driven model, we are establishing a transparent and efficient system that puts students first,” he said.Sawyerr added that the reforms aligned with Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which prioritised educational access and youth empowerment.According to him, more than 320,000 students had already benefited from the scheme, with thousands more undergoing verification as operations scale-up.Looking ahead, NELFUND also plans to integrate its systems with institutional portals across the country.This collaboration aims to enable seamless data exchange, automate student record verification, and speed up loan processing.While recent reforms are encouraging, experts insist that sustained political will, transparency, and inclusive policies are essential to realise the full potential of Nigeria’s student loan scheme.They agree that, in theory, the loan scheme offers a vital opportunity to democratise access to higher education in Nigeria.In practice, however, its rollout has been hindered by legal ambiguities, implementation delays, and regional inequities.If these challenges remain unresolved, experts warn, the scheme may end up widening the very educational gap it was intended to close. (NAN)

By Dakuku Peterside

When white smoke curled into the Roman sky and the world learned that the College of Cardinals had elected Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost, Pope Leo XIV — an American — it was met with mixed emotions across Africa. For many, particularly in Nigeria, it stirred a sense of cautious hope layered with curiosity.

However, it also raised questions about whether a pontiff shaped by the wealth, power, and contradictions of the United States could truly understand the depth of Nigeria’s struggles and the weight of its aspirations. Could he effectively address the wounds of a country still healing from centuries of colonisation, exploitation, and spiritual marginalisation?Yet as days passed and the new Pope began to speak—not in abstractions, but in words charged with moral clarity and historical awareness — Nigerian Catholics began to feel a surprising resonance. Nigeria with the second largest Catholic population in Africa is home to significant church influence. From rural churches in Ebonyi to urban dioceses in Lagos and Kano, conversations shifted. What started as distant interest has evolved into an emerging conviction: that Pope Leo XIV might be the global moral voice Africa, and Nigeria in particular, has long yearned for — not because he is perfect, but because he appears willing to listen, learn, and lead with compassion.The emergence of an American Pope now could mean a lot for global Christianity. It is coming at a time of great moral possibilities for a world in active realignment. Can democracy go awry while morality remains intact? Can an American political leader destabilise the world order while an American pope preaches unity and peace? Pope Leo XIV has a heavy moral burden. He can only discharge it by emulating Pope Francis, by drawing closer to the masses to emphasise our common humanity over and above the clashing swords of global big powers and political showmanship.Sister Benedicta Okeke of Onitsha captured this shift in a post-mass conversation: “You can’t imagine how healing it is to hear a pope acknowledge colonialism not as a thing of the past but as a system whose aftershocks still affect our people. When he said, ‘Africa’s poverty is not a divine mystery but a human-made injustice,’ I wept. For once, our pain was not dismissed as charity fodder. It was treated as a matter of justice.” Recalling Leo XIV’s inaugural homily in which he condemned “the old and new empires that bleed the global south,” her words distilled decades of frustration among believers who have watched multinational corporations extract resources. At the same time, local communities remain poor. At that moment, she said, “our wounds were not invisible anymore.”Nigeria is home to a significant proportion of the world’s poorest populations. A pope who places the poor at the centre of his teachings reaffirms the Church’s mission of compassion and solidarity. Pope Leo XIV’s unwavering focus on social equity and economic justice will resonate deeply in Nigeria, where poverty, inequality, and limited access to healthcare and education persist. His leadership could redirect global Catholic aid priorities towards Africa, inspiring international donors and Catholic organisations to intensify their commitments to humanitarian efforts. His voice could also encourage local Catholic communities to build stronger, self-sustaining social ministries that reflect the Church’s preferential care for the marginalised, instilling a sense of inspiration and motivation in believers nationwide.The new Pope’s empathy for migrants struck another chord. His bold defence of migrant rights, a stance that has reverberated among Nigerian migrants worldwide, is a testament to his global perspective. In a modest flat in Milan, Chidozie Umeh shared a message with his local parish group: “The Pope’s bold defence of migrants made me feel visible for the first time in many years. When he said ‘no human being is illegal,’ it wasn’t just a slogan — it was a lifeline.” For thousands of Nigerians enduring racism, statelessness, and institutional neglect in Europe and North Africa, the Pope’s stance is more than symbolic. It is a form of pastoral advocacy that they rarely receive from their home or host governments. For Nigerians navigating uncertain legal status in Europe or the Middle East, Leo XIV’s stark defence of migrant rights is surely a lifeline.But the promise of Leo XIV’s papacy is not confined to words. Its echoes are beginning to shape the ground realities of faith communities across Nigeria. In Enugu, some Catholic faithfuls have begun mobilising funds for mobile health clinics in underserved communities. The Pope’s emphasis on structural justice — not just acts of mercy — has pushed them to reimagine healthcare as a right, not a luxury. Similar ripples are felt in Jos, where some youth leaders recently mobilise agricultural cooperatives: They’re starting a community farm project because the Pope reminds them that the Eucharist must extend beyond the altar, and charity begins in the parish.For these Catholics, papal words are seeds that must germinate in local initiatives.A broader theological implication of this papacy is its impact on representation and hope. For many Nigerians, the election of an American pope signals that the papacy is no longer a preserve of European tradition. If a man from the United States can lead the Church, then perhaps Africa’s turn is not far, and this is no longer a distant dream. It is a possibility. The notion of a future African pope — once whispered in seminaries as wishful thinking — is now discussed with cautious realism.And it’s not only about leadership at the top. This new papacy concerns cultural legitimacy. Our liturgy — our drums, our dance, our call-and-response chants — have always been considered secondary, something to be tolerated. But now, the Pope himself has said African worship is not an imitation of Catholicism; it is Catholicism. Diversity is no longer a concession; it is the soundtrack of Catholic universality. It is a testament to the Church’s recognition of its global congregation’s richness and diversity.The most pressing issues Pope Leo XIV has thrust into the spotlight are Christian institutions’ credibility, accountability and transparency. Nigeria is no stranger to ecclesiastical scandals, financial opacity, and misplaced priorities. But now, voices within the Church are rising with renewed confidence. Leo XIV’s insistence on public diocesan audits should reverberate in Nigeria, where some parishes keep opaque books. The Pope’s zero-tolerance stance emboldens Nigerians to ask hard questions of bishops. In a country where corruption routinely hollows out institutions, a transparent Church could model the good governance the state so often lacks.This sense of empowerment extends into diplomacy and development, where the Pope’s background as an American could prove strategically beneficial. If this Pope speaks directly to US lawmakers about ethical foreign policy, it could change how aid is delivered and how conflicts are addressed. He understands both African suffering and American power. The hope is that he could serve as a moral interpreter between Africa and the West — a bridge with a conscience.Leo XIV’s personal familiarity with Africa deepens these hopes. Nigerians still recall the Pope’s past visits to Jos and other cities. We feel he understands our reality, which means he can interpret our needs to audiences in Washington and Rome alike. That bridge-building potential implies that the pontiff could unlock US philanthropic networks for dialogue programmes across Nigeria’s religious fault lines.That potential is especially resonant in economic and environmental justice circles. If Pope Leo XIV addresses debt injustice or the exploitative structure of global trade, Washington will not ignore him. He’s not just a theologian. He’s an insider with prophetic courage. In the oil-polluted communities of the Niger Delta, some activists assume that when the Pope shines the papal spotlight on our creeks, maybe then the oil giants will remember we are people, not just pipelines. The notion that a spiritual leader could steer profit-driven decisions may seem utopian, yet history is full of encyclicals that nudged governments toward unexpected reforms.However, the Pope’s impact on domestic reform may be most transformative. Inspired by his message, parishioners in Yola’s St Theresa’s Church recently drafted an open letter urging their governor to publish a transparent and people-focused budget. In southern Kaduna, where violence has claimed countless lives, Father John Yakubu confessed: “This Pope challenges us priests to leave our comfort zones. We are called not only to preach, but to walk beside victims — to be visible where pain is present.” When moral authority radiates downward through the ecclesial chain, it can animate laity and clergy alike to confront entrenched dangers.All these voices converge on a single conviction: the Church’s relevance in Africa will depend on how deeply it listens to Africa. An American pope who learned compassion amid his nation’s contradictions may be uniquely positioned to foster that listening. He stands at the confluence of Washington’s power, Rome’s tradition, and Africa’s youthful dynamism. If he can channel those currents into a river of justice, he will do more than make history — he will help heal it.For now, Nigerians keep watch, balancing hope with realism. They know that papal exhortations do not automatically translate into legislative victories, access to education, healthcare or clean water taps. But they also know that culture often shifts on the hinge of imagination, and Leo XIV has already widened that imaginative horizon. As youth leader Blessing Iyorah stood in her cassava field outside Jos, she captured this new spirit best: “Faith isn’t an escape plan. It’s a construction manual. The Pope has given us blueprints. Now we must build the kingdom — right here, right now, with our own hands.” And in that soil, under the sun of central Nigeria — amid prayer, planning, and prophetic courage — the significance of an American pope for Nigeria might be taking root.Dakuku Peterside, a public sector turnaround expert, public policy analyst and leadership coach, is the author of the forthcoming book, “Leading in a Storm”, a book on crisis leadership.

By Jeff Okoroafor

In recent weeks, the arrest of social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has sparked outrage and reignited debates about the Nigerian government’s misuse of law enforcement agencies to suppress dissent.

The circumstances surrounding his detention—reportedly linked to his criticisms of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) and its influential customers—raise serious concerns about the weaponization of financial and anti-corruption institutions to silence critics. VeryDarkMan, known for his unfiltered commentary on social and political issues, has built a reputation for exposing alleged corruption, fraud, and misconduct among Nigeria’s elite. His recent posts questioning GTBank’s dealings with high-profile individuals appear to have triggered his arrest. While the EFCC claims his detention is related to “cyberstalking” and “defamation,” many see it as a politically motivated move to punish him for speaking truth to power.This is not the first time a vocal critic has been targeted under dubious charges. The EFCC, originally established to combat financial crimes, has increasingly been accused of being weaponized by the government and powerful interests to intimidate activists, journalists, and opposition figures. The agency’s swift action against VDM—while turning a blind eye to far more severe cases of fraud involving politically connected individuals—exposes its selective enforcement of the law.GTBank, one of Nigeria’s most prominent financial institutions, has denied involvement in VDM’s arrest. However, given the bank’s history of litigation against critics and its connections to influential figures, skepticism remains. If GTBank or any of its high-net-worth customers pressured authorities to detain VDM for his online commentary, it would represent a dangerous collusion between corporate power and state repression.Banks should not operate as instruments of censorship. If citizens cannot question financial institutions without fear of arrest, Nigeria’s already fragile democracy suffers further erosion. The right to criticize corporations—especially those handling public funds—is fundamental to accountability.The EFCC was once hailed as a crucial anti-graft agency, but under successive governments, it has devolved into a tool for political vendettas. From the arrest of journalists like Agba Jalingo to the harassment of activists like Omoyele Sowore, the pattern is clear: the EFCC is increasingly deployed to stifle free speech under the guise of fighting cybercrime.Section 24 of Nigeria’s Cybercrime Act, often cited in such cases, is dangerously vague and prone to abuse. It criminalizes “offensive” or “annoying” messages, giving authorities broad discretion to punish dissent. This law, alongside the EFCC’s growing politicization, creates a chilling effect where citizens self-censor to avoid persecution.The arrest of VeryDarkMan is not just about one individual—it is a test of Nigeria’s commitment to free speech. If financial institutions and government agencies can arbitrarily detain critics, then no voice is safe. Civil society, the media, and the legal community must push back against this authoritarian trend.Judicial Accountability: Courts must scrutinize EFCC’s actions and reject frivolous charges meant to suppress speech.Legislative Reform: The Cybercrime Act should be amended to remove ambiguous provisions that enable repression.Public Pressure: Nigerians must demand transparency from GTBank and the EFCC, ensuring that neither entity is used to punish critics.Nigeria cannot claim to be a democracy if the state and corporate powers conspire to silence dissent. The EFCC must return to its core mandate of fighting corruption—not citizens. VeryDarkMan’s case should serve as a rallying cry for all who believe in free expression. If we allow this precedent to stand, we risk descending into a regime where only the powerful have a voice, and truth is a punishable offense.Jeff Okoroafor is a social accountability advocate and a political commentator focused on governance, accountability, and social justice in West Africa.