Private varsity students deserve NELFUND, VCs tell FG

The Vice-Chancellor of Bowen University, Prof Jonathan Babalola, and his Kola Daisi University counterpart, Prof Olajumoke Morenikeji, on Monday restated the call on the Federal Government to extend the Nigerian Education Loan Fund scheme to students in private universities.

Babalola and Morenikeji made the call at separate conferences held to herald their forthcoming convocation ceremonies.

They faulted assumptions that students attending private universities were from wealthy backgrounds and should be excluded from NELFUND.

Babalola said it had become baffling that efforts by the registrars of private universities to convince the Federal Government to extend NELFUND to their students had yet to yield results.

Babalola described the exclusion of private universities as unfair, arguing that their students also deserved to benefit from the common pool of NELFUND.

Babalola said, “NELFUND should be made available to the private institutions. Some of these students are not coming from wealthy backgrounds. Attending private institutions does not mean their parents are rich. I want to appeal to the Federal Government to shift ground.

“Government will say because they are in a private university, they don’t need help. That is why I said it is unfair. If you all contribute, you must all share. If the money is only from government, fine. This is an opportunity to tell government, let us do what is right. I understand the problem is that they think, okay, how can we support somebody else’s agenda? But we can do it directly to the individual students who are Nigerians.”

Babalola also made a case for lecturers in private universities to benefit from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, noting that their research findings were also for the betterment of society.

He said, “So if you are giving a research grant to Bowen University, let the research grant be to the lecturer directly. So that you say, okay, it’s Nigeria that is benefiting from the output of the research and not the university itself.

“I am sure there are ways of circumventing what the Federal Government has as its fear. But I think we must not lose the fact that we are all Nigerians. I tell you now, of the top scientists in the world, we have several in Bowen University. Some universities that are getting this grant don’t have one. So the brains that are here at Bowen University are being wasted by the Nigerian government because they are not giving them the opportunity.”

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On her part, the Kola Daisi VC said students in private institutions were also Nigerians and should not be excluded from government-supported educational financing because of the ownership status of their universities.

Morenikeji said, “NELFUND should be made available to the private institutions. Some of these students are not coming from wealthy backgrounds. Attending private institutions does not mean their parents are rich. I want to appeal to the Federal Government to shift ground.

“The children in private institutions are also Nigerians.”

She argued that private universities were filling the gap left by public universities, which could not accommodate the large number of applicants seeking admission.

She said some parents were therefore compelled to enrol their children or wards in private universities because public universities could not admit every applicant.

She said, “How many students can Federal institutions take? The limited admission spaces in public universities meant that some qualified candidates had to seek opportunities in private institutions.

“Some families made such choices because their children could not secure admission into public universities.

“I want to urge the Federal Government to look beyond the ownership of institutions and consider the circumstances of students when formulating policies designed to improve access to higher education.”

She said extending educational loans to eligible students in private universities would provide more Nigerians with opportunities to pursue their academic ambitions, irrespective of the institutions they attended.

The 21st convocation ceremonies of Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, run from November 2 to 7, while that of Kola Daisi University, Ibadan, Oyo State, spans October 26 to November 5, 2026.