Exclusion of private varsities students from NELFUND unjust, says Afe Babalola

The Founder and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), on Thursday declared that exclusion of students of private universities from benefiting from the federal government’s students’ loan scheme was unjust.

Mr Babalola, who stated this at the ABUAD International Hydrogen Summit 2024, which took place on the university campus, noted that private universities were equally excluded from TETFund for no justification.

He said: “TETFund was established by the Federal Government. Its source of fund is money collected from private organisations. We all know that private universities are precluded from accessing funds from TETFund.

“Recently, the federal government established the Students Loan Scheme. Again, students from private universities are precluded. Are they not Nigerians? Again, what have you done about it?

“Federal government gives money to public universities for research. I am not aware of any university (private or public) which has achieved more in research than ABUAD. Yet, ABUAD has not benefited from the government in this regard.”

Keynote speech

In his keynote address at the occasion, the Minister of State for Environment, Iziaq Salako, said the country is at a critical juncture where it must transition to cleaner energy sources in a just and equitable manner.

According to the Minister who was represented at the event by the Director General of the Research Institute of Nigeria, Zachariah Buba, with 45 per cent of the population of Nigeria lacking access to the national electricity grid and more than 50 per cent of her households energy poor, green hydrogen has become the way out, saying it would also help the country to lead in the global decarbonisation effort.

He said: “This green hydrogen initiative is aligned with our broader climate goals, particularly Nigeria’s commitment under the Paris Agreement and our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to voluntarily cut emissions by 20% by 2030 compared to a business as usual scenario.

“The development of green hydrogen will serve as a critical tool in achieving our long-term goal of net-zero emissions by 2060.”

Governor speaks

In his remarks, the Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, noted that the green hydrogen initiative is more than just meeting the nation’s energy needs but an opportunity to position the country as a leader in the hydrogen economy.

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Mr Oyebanji who was represented by his wife, Olayemi Oyebanji, added that green hydrogen can help decarbonise industries that have been hard to clean up, such as heavy manufacturing, transportation, aviation companies.