NELFUND: Ignoring private varsity students unfair – Bowen Varsity VC, as institution set for 19th convocation
Khalid ABRAHAM
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The Federal Government has been told that ignoring students of private tertiary institutions in the Nigeria Education Loan Fund scheme, NELFUND would be unfair.
This was disclosed by the Vice-Chancellor of Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Professor Jonathan Babalola while addressing newsmen ahead of the institution’s 19th convocation ceremony inside the campus.
He said the students of private tertiary institutions are Nigerians who ordinarily should benefit from such federal government schemes but were discriminated against because they attend private institutions.
According to him, NELFUND is a loan meant for Nigerian students, so I believe that anybody in a private university who needs such a loan should be given since it is a loan that will be returned and paid back in the long run, why do we discriminate against such, I want government to know that not all students in private universities are rich enough to afford it, there are some who because of strike in public universities would not want their children to waste their years in public universities.
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“So some people will go for cooperative loans and the like just because they want their children to attend private universities and finish on time so I think they ought to be deprived of this kind of benefit. I think it is unfair for them”.
Speaking on the forthcoming 19th convocation of the school to be held on Saturday, the Vice-Chancellor said 115 students would be awarded First Class Honours while 323 students will graduate with a Second Class, Upper Division.
His words, “192 students will graduate with a Second Class, Lower Division, 65 students will graduate with a Third Class, and7 students will graduate with a Pass.
“In the MB;BS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) programme which is an unclassified degree, 56 students will graduate, with 4 distinctions awarded for outstanding performance.
“In the fields of Nursing and Physiotherapy, which are also unclassified degrees,14 students will graduate with a Distinction, 90 students will graduate with a Credit, and 4 students will graduate with a Pass, completing their academic requirements”.
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He added that the school would confer 10 candidates with a Postgraduate Diploma (PGD), 13 candidatess will complete their Master’s Degree (M.Sc/MBA), and 12 scholars will be awarded Doctorate Degrees, (Ph.D).
“The addition of these 901 graduands at the 19th Convocation Ceremony has raised the total number of Bowen University graduates to an impressive 17,686 since our first convocation in 2006, which produced 383 graduates”, he added.
