Student loan, grateful beneficiary and wailing cynics
One of the famous miracles performed by Jesus Christ, according to biblical accounts, was the healing of 10 lepers made up of nine Jews and one Samaritan, on his way
One of the famous miracles performed by Jesus Christ, according to biblical accounts, was the healing of 10 lepers made up of nine Jews and one Samaritan, on his way to Jerusalem. As He entered a village between Samaria and Galilee, Jesus saw the lepers standing afar off, pleading that he should have mercy on them. Rather than heal the lepers instantly as he was wont to do, He told them to go and show themselves to the priests in accordance with the Mosaic Law which required priests to confirm cleansing from skin diseases.
On their way to the temple to show themselves to the priests, they realised that they had been healed of their infirmity. It turned out, however, that only the Samaritan deemed it necessary to return to Jesus to express gratitude. The other nine simply went their ways, prompting Jesus to ask: “Were there not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine others?
I was reminded of this biblical story by the gesture Oladepo Caleb Olugbenga, a First Class graduate of Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State exhibited during the school’s graduation ceremony on April 22. With a cumulative grade point average of 4.89, he emerged the best graduating student in the school’s 18th convocation.
Remarkably, of the more than 1.3 million students reckoned to have benefitted from the two-year-old students loan programme, Olugbenga has emerged the Samaritan with public acknowledgement of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s student loans programme without which he said his dream of becoming an electrical and electronic engineer would have remained at best a tantalizing mirage. “I’m honoured to let you know that I am the best graduating student of LAUTECH. Your loans made it possible,” he said in a post on his X handle.
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But his public expression of gratitude has torn the landscape into two camps of supporters who praised both his result and public acknowledgement of the student loan scheme and critics who accused him of politicising his achievement or directing unnecessary attention towards a government programme. Some critics who are of religious bent even accused him of giving to NELFUND the praise he should have reserved for God. Yet others said the programme in question was too new for Olugbenga to credit his academic success with.
The resultant hullabaloo prompted the First Class graduate to offer further clarifications in an interview with a national newspaper, telling his critics that it is he who wears the shoe that knows where it pinches. He said: “I hail from a village in Osun State and was raised in a modest family of five. I attended public primary and secondary schools, not by choice, but even the most inexpensive schools were beyond our means.
“Even then, survival itself; food and clothing were daily struggle. I walked miles to school each morning, while my parents labored as jacks-of-all-trades to make ends meet. For nine defining years before I entered university, we lived within sight of basic amenities yet beyond our reach. No electricity, no television; just lanterns and candles.”
Olugbenga said he did not get his first smart phone until he was in his third year, and that came as a gesture from a course mate’s father who he once tutored while some kind-hearted lecturers occasionally provided him with clothing. Then he clarified a reality of life he felt was lost on many of his critics: “Not everyone is born with a silver spoon. Some of us climbed the ladder by holding unto every rung of legitimate support we could find.”
The Olugbenga episode offers an insight into how much we take for granted as wealthy or average citizens because we are oblivious of the economic challenges faced by underprivileged individuals and families in perpetual struggle against the harsh realities of life. Throwing light on how the funding for student loans was achieved, the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, said he was moved by the precarious situations of some students who had to venture into internet fraud because they needed money to fund their studies.
Olukoyede said: “I approached Mr. President and we agreed on two things. Sir, you have passed the NELFUND law, but there is no money for NELFUND to take off. I have a crop of hundreds of students who are into cyber crime, and upon doing my research, I discovered why they went into it. And this is because many of them could not afford to train themselves properly through school. Legitimate needs were driving them to illegitimate solutions. Sir, I have some money in my recovery account. Why don’t you take part of it, which is about a hundred billion, and invest it in NELFUND?”
The student loan programme is not only a bailout for struggling individuals and families it is a tool for social development and weapon against crime and other anti-social activities. Many of the youths recruited into terrorist organsiations today would probably not be available for such negative causes if the programme had been in place long before now.
