By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress ADC, Atiku Abubakar has vowed to review the Nigerian Education Loan Fund NELFUND policy and provide debt forgiveness for qualifying Nigerian students, dismissing as “dishonest” President Bola Tinubu’s attempt to present the scheme as proof that education has become more affordable under his administration.
Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to the former vice president, Phrank Shaibu, said in a statement on Tuesday evening that his response was to Tinubu’s overnight post on X, in which the president attacked Atiku’s economic positions without mentioning him by name.
Shaibu said Tinubu’s invocation of NELFUND as a defence against Atiku’s proposal to cut the cost of energy was disingenuous, arguing that the President had first driven up the cost of education before presenting loans as a rescue package. “Celebrating NELFUND as proof that education has become affordable under your government is like setting school fees on fire and then boasting that you lent students a bucket of water. What exactly is the wisdom in presiding over dramatic increases in school fees in some institutions, only to turn around and celebrate loans as the solution?”, he queried.
