Owolabi Salis, a famous Nigerian politician, has proposed the use of EDUBONDS to fund tertiary education. He explained that EDUBONDS retains educated persons to help the nation grow.
According to him, it ensures that education reaches everybody. He said: “It is a creative design of a highly efficient and effective financial mechanism which draws resources from diverse sources to enhance the educational capacity of the citizens.
“It is designed for the rich and poor,and focused on three operational key words: ‘Wish,Capacity and Access’(WCA) which entails that a student who wishes to be educated in a particular field, and possesses the capacity to undergo the desired field of study should have access to funds.”
He added that the project is based on the fact that the most valuable security in the world is knowledge.
“This is why most governments,’’ he added, ‘‘take interest in educating their citizens, which has been a great burden on their budgets. EDUBONDS, therefore, provides an arrangement for improving the education economy and the autonomy of self-financing while removing undue strain on the government,the student and parents.’’
“It is about bringing students under equal financial probabilities. EDUBONDS is designed with problems of lack of education in mind,and the menace it constitutes to man and the larger society,and is therefore actuated by the vision to usher a progressive change for the better.
“It makes the student approach the financial market to get funds that can only be used for the right purpose – education. The student will use his/her future as security backed up by a life insurance against death or disability. It is in this sense that it could be described as a futuristic market. It enables children of the poor and the rich,to have quality education.’’
“EDUBONDS is competitive and democratic in design,and will bring discipline and an end to student unrest and cultism because of the sense of responsibility and higher commitment on the part of the student,arising from non-governmental dependence. It is fair to the government, fair to the student, and fair to the parents. It is an attempt to improve family values and easy to administer. The creative and unique design is one of the best ways to improve Nigeria’s education economy.”
“The scheme which was developed in 1967 during the IBB era, is the most effective means to make education sustainable. Repayment enforcement is easy, especially with the advent of NIN and BIVAS and the attachment of repayment to the issuing and renewing of passport,coupled with employers discretion to make monthly withdrawals.
“Loan or bonds also bear interest rates in order to encourage repayment. To hedge against inflation,the loan would be in units and units to the value of naira to be determined yearly or monthly by the CBN,” he said.
