UNIFEMGA submission to the House of Representatives committee email on Students Loan memoranda.

Dear Sir,
Please find our submission for amendments to the Students Loan.

1. The current design precludes unfairly those whose parents or Guardians earn above a certain sum regardless of their circumstances and responsibilities.
2. The current design does not ensure that the payment of tuition and other school fees go directly to the institutions of learning and to the students the welfare portion of the loans.
3. The design should cater for all public higher education institutions (State and Federal) and reflect the applicable tuition costs of the different institutions including the professional certification cost such as that of the Law School or Colleges of Medicine amongst others.
4. The current design excludes students below 18yrs of age, who are by law not able to enter into a binding contract as envisaged in the current design.
5. The current design does not
cater for students on part time study programs
6. The interest rates as designed is anti- Islam and thus infringes on the rights of Muslim to the practice of our religion
7. The requirement for guarantors and referees are not fair to those who are unable to reach such cadre of individuals to back their loan applications.

The following are our recommendations:
1. The current earning band should be set at ten times the loan application amount. Parents earning annually 10m and above cannot have their children apply for annual 1m loan.
2. The loan design should have amount for tuition and that for welfare. The tuition fees should be directly payable to the institutions
3. The institutions covered by the loan should be expanded to include all state and federal higher public institutions and professional examination institutions
4. The loan design for applicants aged 16-18 should not be designed as grants and not repayable
5. Students on part-time study should be included in the loan design
6. The loan repayment should be for the repayment of the principal and additional charges based on on ethical best practices
7. The requirement for guarantors should be removed and family member referees and or self recognition should be allowed where none family member referees cannot be gotten.
8. All applicants must have NIN and or BVN as should all referees

Regards,
Mohammed Buari,
VP, UNIFEMGA