By Okwudiri Okafor, Umuahia
A threat by Abia State government to arrest children spotted hawking wares and exchange their parents for them, has seen enrollment figures swell in the South-East Nigerian state.
State governor, Dr Alex Otti, disclosed this when he received a delegation from Nigeria Education Loans Fund (NELFUND) led by its Director, Regional Advocacy, Engr. Nnaemeka Okafor, at Government House, Umuahia,the state capital.
Otti was enthused that schools in the state are now bursting at the seam with students.
Given the new tendency in the South-East for most young persons to prefer the immediate returns from trading to formal education, observers say the move by the government was necessary to save the next generation from illiteracy and thus, incapacity to compete in the unfolding Digital Age.
According to him, the introduction of free education in the state further buoyed government’s bid to educate the people as this helped give a jump to school enrollment.
He said: “Since we started in January this year, there has been an upsurge in registration. Initially we were thinking we will have to enforce it. So, we said ‘if you are of school age and we see you hawking banana and groundnut, we will arrest you and exchange you with your parents’.
“What we found is that schools are bursting and there is nobody to arrest; people want to go to school.”
Dwelling on the students’ loan scheme, the governor called for adequate sensitization on its merits for students in institutions of higher learning.
The governor emphasized that if the people of the South-East are well-informed about the programme, they would likely participate and access the loan to enable them pursue their academic dreams.
However, he noted that an average Igbo has an attitude towards loans, hence the need for adequate advocacy.
“You see our people have this attitude towards loan, except if they’ve tried everything. Because once you are owing… even the business people when they borrow, they want to pay back.
“This is where advocacy comes in. I am not too sure that our people know that it is interest-free. Maybe they know, but their attitude towards borrowing still has something to do with it. I think we need to sensitize them.
“Maybe we need to do a little bit more because this is a very good initiative particularly for students who are from indigent homes; so, I am sure that if our people understand clearly that nobody would be chasing them to pay back the loan when they have no means of livelihood.
“So, we need to do a whole lot more in Abia State University, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, even though it is a federal university , ” Gov. Otti stated.
The governor charged the state’s Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Professor Uche Emeh Uche, to push the advocacy aggressively across all tertiary institutions in the state.
Reacting to NELFUND’s request for office space, he assured the Director that Abia is ready to assist in provision of space for the agency to have its office in the state as well as other necessary logistics for smooth operation of the office.
Speaking earlier, Engr. Okafor said that she came to seek partnership with the state government in sensitizing people about the students’ loan, noting that the South-East has the lowest list of applicants among geopolitical zones applying for it.
She recalled that the opportunity for accessing the students’ loan started in April 2024, disclosing that the loan is for students in government-owned institutions of higher learning such as university, polytechnic and college of education.
The Director added that the loan, which is interest-free, is expected to be paid back within 10 years starting two years after the beneficiary would have completed national youth service.
Appreciating what she described as Gov. Otti’s giant strides in various sectors of the economy and describing him as one who has performed miracles in Abia State, Engr. Okafor requested for space for office accommodation for the agency.
Professor Uche; Rector of Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic, Aba, Dr. Christopher Okoro, were among top government officials present during the visit.
