Vice Chancellor of Redeemers University, Prof. Debo Adeyewa » has urged the Federal Government to consider granting educational loan to tertiary institution students so they will no longer have challenges with paying their fees.
Speaking on Friday, June 17, Adeyewa added that his university, though private, had been subsidising education.
“Education is expensive anywhere in the world. You need to accept that education is expensive.
“People talk about the fact that the poor cannot access education; we are keeping the poor poor (er) by not helping them to access education.
“In the private universities, if I tell you our budget for payment of salaries all the fees that we gather is
not even enough to pay salaries and yet we must build infrastructure, we must do some other things.
“We contribute even to pay fees for students; so we are actually subsidising education; it is expensive.
“Now, let’s look at this, what we give to students is on the higher side because education is something that you need to give in qualitative and quantitative terms.
“So, what we are trying to say is that government can help by assisting, by giving education loans to students to assist them.
“By saying that education is free like the Federal Government is saying, it is not going to be sustainable.
“If education is free and you are not really giving the much money that is needed, you know what you are doing, you are offering university education at the primary school level.
“Quality and quantity must agree. ”
According to him, many private universities in the country do not make profit, yet, have to provide infrastructure, quantitative and qualitative education.
“Private universities are actually coming and you don’t know actually how many universities are actually making gains.
“We are actually making sacrifices and we are making it cheap.’’
Adeyewa said that the private universities deserved some kudos for rescuing the quality of education in Nigeria.
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