Governor Ademola Adeleke has received an award of excellence from the Nigeria Education Loans Fund (NELFUND) for propelling achievement of first position by Osun state in the nationwide enrolment of beneficiary states by NELFUND.
Presenting the award to the Osun State Governor on Tuesday at Osogbo, the Managing Director of NELFUND, Mr Akintunde Sawyer said Osun came first in terms of responsiveness and filling of requisite institutional and students data among the 36 States of the federation.
The Managing Director lauded Governor Adeleke for embracing the vision of President Bola Tinubu on the loan scheme, asserting that the Osun Governor represents an enviable model in sectoral push for good governance.
Explaining the significance of the education loan fund, Mr Sawyer said the targetted beneficiaries are indigents students, noting that the critical step to reaching each student is credible data gathering on which he said Osun is leading other states.
Responding, Governor Adeleke expressed appreciation to the NELFUND management for the award and to President Tinubu for activating the initiative.
The Governor spoke further: “I thank you for your kind words. We express our appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for creating this Funding initiative as a response to the many challenges facing our student population.
“We commend the President for demonstrating strong political will by fast tracking not only the establishment of the Fund but its effective take off.
“For us as a state, we have a responsibility to productively partner with the Federal Government for the benefit of our people. When it comes to bringing dividends of democracy to our people, we are blind to partisan politics. Our focus is the improvement of the lives of our people irrespective of where it is coming from.
“As a government, we see the Fund as a veritable platform to provide a lifeline for many indigents students in our various schools. The initiative promises to remove the pain and hardship experienced by many brilliant students in the area of funding. Again, we are elated by the prospects and opportunities for our students , hence our launching into the programme with all machinery of government.
“We are glad our efforts paid off with the enrolment of many Osun state owned schools in the programme. It is gratifying to hear that Osun took the lead among a comity of states in the selection and compliance process. Our next plan is to follow up by further deepening the preparedness of the selected schools for accessing opportunities available within the fund.
“Our gratitude also goes to the management of NELFUND for making the take off so efficient and for the fairness manifested during the selection process. We have strong faith in the capacity of the Fund to continue on the path of openness and equity”, the State Governor posited further.
He however urged the NELFUND management to ensure there is no debt trap in the running of the student loan system.
According to the Governor,”I must call our attention to a lesson we must learn as a nation from the operation of the loans board.
“As a long term resident of the United States, I am aware of the challenges of the student loans scheme. It has become a crisis of sorts. It has also become a subject of hot political debate. It has to do with huge student loan debts in the US
“We must as a nation avoid a similar debt trap. As we have the grace to understudy other nations operating similar funds, we must avoid the pitfalls. Our new system must integrate mechanisms to prevent similar experiences like what is happening in the US.
“I task the management of NELFUND to innovate within its mandate on how to make its operations sustainable. Debt trap must never be experienced in Nigeria’s students’ loan operations”, the Governor noted in his address.
Present at the courtesy visit were; Deputy Governor, Prince Kola Adewusi, Speaker, Osun House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Adewale Egbedun, Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Teslim Igbalaye, cabinet ranking and non-cabinet members, Head of Service, Mr Ayanleye Aina among others.