The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has promised to cancel the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) if he becomes president in 2027.

Mr Abubakar, who spoke on Tuesday through Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president’s spokesman, said President Bola Tinubu set schools on fire and boasted of lending students money.  

“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 said.

He said Mr Tinubu made education more expensive, lent students money to survive the increase, and demanded applause for the rescue.

“That is not affordable. It is witchcraft economics: create the burden with one hand, offer debt with the other, and demand applause for the intervention”, he noted.

Mr Abubakar said he had reviewed the current student-loan policy and believed that it should not begin with a mountain of debt hanging over a young Nigerian’s future.

According to him, the approach will reduce the underlying cost of education and, after review, forgive qualifying student debts so young Nigerians can graduate with hope rather than repayment burdens.

Mr Abubakar said education should open doors, not mortgage the future, noting that a student loan is not a scholarship but a liability.

“The proper test of an education policy is whether ordinary families can educate their children without being pushed into debt merely to keep them in school.

“When students increasingly require loans because the underlying cost of education has become prohibitive, the government should not parade the loan itself as evidence that the system is working,” he said.

Bayo Onanuga, Mr Tinubu’s special adviser on information and strategy, and Daniel Bwala, special adviser on policy communication, were unavailable for comment. 

Text and WhatsApp messages sent to them had not been answered as of press time.