Prof. Anthony Kola-Olusanya is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Research Innovations and Partnerships) at the Osun State University, Osogbo. In this interview with Funmi Ogundare, the professor of Environment and Sustainability explained why the government has to take another look at the students’ loan recently introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s government and explore the countries where such loans are successfully used for education so that it doesn’t stifle the life out of students who apply for it, among other issues. Excerpts:
As a professor of environment and sustainability, what do you think about climate change and global warming?
Global warming is the driver of climate change. This is an occurrence of natural incident in the atmosphere. We have natural occurring carbon dioxide which is needed at certain percentage for the planet, so when the sun comes and strike the planet, in other to keep the planet habitable, it traps some of the heat. That heat is trapped down by some of the naturally occurring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. That is normal, then the plants take in carbon dioxide and human takes in oxygen and gives out carbon dioxide.
At equilibrium, everything is okay. Subsequent on industrial revolution, with humans actions, things began to change until it got out of hand and you now have more than the naturally occurring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So the level has thickened and it’s keeping more heat within. Anthropogenic causes such as industrialisation, fossil fuel usage and deforestation, now promote global warming and thus lead to climate change. Climate change also happens naturally, that is the dilemma of it. It can happen naturally and won’t affect anything.
What can be done to control the effect of human activities?
There is a global positioning now that we should keep the carbon dioxide at 1.5 degrees centigrade that should not go beyond 2.0 degrees centigrade to keep us at 1900 realm so that the planet will still continue to exist as we are. Anything above that will wipe us out. How do we do that? There have been several efforts being put in place. One is the global pact, the Paris Club agreement signed by all the countries in the world, but enforcing it is an issue. In Nigeria, there has been that confusion here because we are a developing economy, but this is not peculiar to this country alone. Developing economies are expected to retool their industries for alternative energy. However, this will cost a lot of money. For us to really get on that, every country, like Nigeria, will have to work within that realm and limit the amount of emission released into the atmosphere. That is one major one. You also have to embark on re-afforestation, which is a big deal because if there is more forest, it will soak in the excess carbon dioxide. However, you are also dealing with the population. Some groups will argue that we should reduce the population. It is not a straightjacket thing. But those measures that can help us to really control are within the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). When people are educated, they know what to do and control their activities. So these days, the economy is working with the environment in mind, and that way, you are able to limit the amount of emission into the atmosphere. For instance, if industry A is emitting effluent at a certain amount, you are to retrofit the emission point such that it can be filtered and what is going out will not be as dangerous. Secondly, you also have cars. The West is moving away from fossil fuel-driven cars, but we are still using that, which is still a problem. Those are measures. We can only piggyback on what the Western world is doing, take a cue from them and move on. Nigeria has signed a lot of conventions, the biggest is the Paris pact, but it takes a lot of political will to do the needful.
What new study is currently being carried out by your university in this area?
During the tenure of the last vice-chancellor, part of what we did, was to reforest the campus. When the campus was built, a lot of natural forest was pulled down. Of course, that would have an effect on the environment. We then came up with the idea that every student must plant trees. So once you are matriculating, you plant a tree, and then you nurture the tree throughout your stay in the university. The essence is that even after graduation, you can always come and look at it. So far, I think we have planted over 15,000 seedlings by now because it’s ongoing yearly.
Your institution’s Global Affairs and Sustainable Development Institute recently organised a sustainable development dialogue. How is this supposed to impact the school and the nation?
What we do in the university is to generate ideas through research, community service and teaching. The SDG dialogue is another way to explore the indigenous angle, which is our culture, value and what we represent, and how we relate with nature knowing fully well that indigenous people are in a close relationship with the environment. That is what the dialogue is advancing; to take us to how we can marry Western development with indigenous development and seek a way forward.
What steps is Osun State University taking to attract grants and ensure that effective research is carried out?
When the new vice-chancellor came in, he came with research-driven scholars to ensure the university wins grants. These have been happening on a daily basis. In the last two or three years, the university has been winning grants, including TETFund and the world global grant.
What has been the impact on the lecturers?
The impact is that they are able to put their ideas to the world in the form of research and coming up with decisions and conclusions that can be derived from results which will also improve their classroom teaching abilities.
The Tinubu dispensation recently introduced the students’ loan. How will this help students in tertiary institutions and unburden parents?
Students’ loan is a little bit alien to our society. The idea of training children through schools is not alien to parents. There is a difference between taking a loan to study and getting a job at the end of the day. The expectation is that once you finish your studies, you get a job, but today things have changed. It means that you will have to do extra for you to get a job. Now the question is that even in societies where they take loans to study, does that work for them? Did they get a job immediately? Yes, to an extent, but the idea of university education is not just to get jobs. It is for you to become somebody who can be creative and think independently. That is the idea. However, the problem I find with the loan is the structure itself. I have read the Act and other contributions about it. The problem with it is how effective it will be and the conditionality attached to it. It will be very tough. I am not unmindful of the fact that the loan document was hurriedly put together late last year, perhaps when ASUU’s negotiation with the leadership of the House of Representatives was ongoing. Loans are not structured like that.
You don’t put a condition to a loan like I must pay. For a federal government loan, you don’t need a guarantor. The federal government in a country is a guarantor of the loan. For instance, if you are taking a loan and have your NIN tied to it, there is a moratorium period of two years. Even the two years that are fixed are not a final date. There will be variation, or there should be, in the Act. What if somebody does not get a job within two years? You have to give a waiver to such a person, and conditions should be stated clearly so that if, in five years, you still don’t get a job, the government has to start thinking about how to deal with the loan. You can’t say if the person is unable to pay back, then he will go to jail. No. That is not how to do a loan document. You have your NIN, and you took a loan, which means you are carrying a debt forever. Even if you run anywhere in the world, you would be a debtor. Even if you must travel, the country has to know where you are and going to be and work, such that you will always be able to pay back. The loan is not meant to stifle life out of you. You don’t have to pay immediately. It is the workability of the loan as it is presently drawn, there are a lot of problems with it. Then you can’t have a federal government loan alone.
It’s impossible. The government might lose money over-centralisation. The state should also have a contribution to it. There is a state and federal portion to the loan so that at the end of the day, by the time the student is finishing, a certain percentage of the two loans is written off automatically. So the chunk that remains is what the student will pay. What Nigeria should have done is explore countries where the loans are used for education and work. The kind of loan that we have now for education is like a commercial bank loan that requires guarantors. The idea that there is going to be an education bank, where is that coming from? The loan board will just be an administrative structure. TETFund is giving money to universities but doesn’t have a bank. It is keeping money on behalf of the government and distributing it on behalf of the universities. That is the job of the loans board, to distribute it. There is a way TETFund monitors the project.
What is the way forward?
At the moment, implementation is impossible. For instance, when you take a loan at the bank, they are going to ask for collateral, but in the case of students’ loan, they will ask for a guarantor who is probably of the rank of a professor. So when a professor guarantees you, and you run away, the professor goes to jail for six months. This is obnoxious. That is not how to do a loan. It is more like a commercial bank loan. Government should not be drawing a loan document this way; only shylock does it. There are countries where things work with loans, and they work well. You don’t even need your school to recommend you for the loan.
The number one guarantor of the loan is the president of the country, and the government is the owner of the loan. You don’t need a loan guarantor. All you need to do is to sign the loan document. Once you get the loan, upon graduation, you have a moratorium of two years, which you begin to pay once you are employed. You have to make a full disclosure of your job, and if that cannot repay your loan, it means that from the loan, the deduction cannot take place. It means the government have to re-draw the loan document to make way for lapses.
