The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected the Federal Government’s newly launched Tertiary Institution Loan Scheme, describing it as an insult to Nigerian university workers and a mockery of the higher education system.
The scheme, introduced by the Ministry of Education, offers interest-free loans of up to ₦10 million to university employees. It is designed to promote staff welfare, professional growth, and financial stability, with a one-year moratorium and a five-year repayment plan.
But speaking at a press conference in Uyo on Monday, ASUU Calabar Zonal Coordinator and senior lecturer at Ebonyi State University, Dr. Ikechuku Igwenyi, dismissed the initiative as a “distraction” from government’s failure to address more pressing issues such as long-overdue salary renegotiation.
“The government continues to pay its workforce using a 17-year-old salary structure without any renegotiation since 2012,” Igwenyi said. “How can the same government turn around to offer impoverished workers a slavish loan in a depressed economy instead of implementing a commensurate wage structure?”
The ASUU Calabar zone covers eight universities, including the University of Calabar, University of Uyo, Ebonyi State University, and Abia State University, among others.
Igwenyi further criticized what he described as government’s pattern of “blackmail and distractions,” citing earlier policies such as the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), palliatives, and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
“It insults our sensibilities that a government that owes lecturers arrears of promotion, third-party deductions, and other entitlements will now impose a loan scheme requiring unions to act as guarantors,” he said. “No sensible worker should be forced into loans for feeding and survival if they are adequately remunerated.”
He vowed that ASUU would resist the scheme, calling it a “poison chalice” and warning that the union would not continue to waste resources attending fruitless meetings with government officials.
ASUU is scheduled to meet with the Federal Government again on August 28, but Igwenyi hinted it could be the union’s last such engagement.
EduTimes Africa, a product of Education Times Africa, is a magazine publication that aims to lend its support to close the yawning gap in Africa's educational development.