The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) has accused the State Security Services (SSS) of surveilling and infiltrating its activities over comments against the federal government’s loan scheme.

The ERC, in a statement by its spokesperson, Gideon Adeyeni, said the SSS has also invited its leaders over their dissent to the government’s student loan scheme.

The group has always opposed the student loan bill, saying it was a plan to introduce tuition to Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

The group recently launched a campaign describing the student loan scheme as a ‘scam’, after which its National Coordinator, Hassan Soweto, received a call from the SSS office in Ikeja.

“On Thursday 14 December 2023, a day after the unveiling of our new pamphlet “Ten Reasons why Tinubu’s Students Loan is a Scam”, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), the secret police of the Nigerian state, reached out via a phone call to comrade Hassan Taiwo Soweto, the National Coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) inviting him to a “parley”,” parts of the statement reads.

The statement said the SSS official who initiated the phone call identified himself as Paul Okilo, the Director of the SSS, Ikeja Local Government, noted that the call was related to the group’s campaign against President Bola Tinubu’s Students Loan scheme.

Mr Okilo reportedly told Mr Soweto that the SSS has put the ERC under its surveillance.

ERC demands invitation

The ERC, however, said it would not honour the invitation until the SSS formalised the invitation, with the inclusion of lawyers for transparency and safety assurance.

The group said: ”As a campaigning organisation with a track record spanning years of genuinely defending the interests of Nigerian students and education workers, we will like to assure the gentlemen and ladies of the DSS that we are in no way averse to answering questionings regarding our ideas, programmes and activities. Therefore, as we have nothing to hide we are open to the aforesaid parley and are ready to make ourselves available provided the DSS is prepared to send a formal invitation and also permit the presence of our lawyers at such a parley.’

”We make this request due to the track record of Nigeria’s brutal capitalist state which is known to engage in disappearing activists and those who oppose government policies. Meanwhile, a formal invitation can serve as assurance to our members and supporters who have every reason to fear for our safety.”

Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the DSS, Peter Afunaya, were not successful as he declined several calls placed to him. Also, the text message sent to him was not responded to.

Campaign for adequate funding of education

The ERC stated that it launched the pamphlet titled “Ten Reasons Why Tinubu’s Students Loan is a Scam”, on 13 December where the organisation faulted the premise of the government’s argument to further commercialise education, which is that the country is too poor to fund public education.

”We have over the past months openly criticised the Students Loan scheme and called for its rejection because it is a justification for the introduction of a criminal hike in school fees which, among other things, deny students from the poor and working-class families access to higher education. Through our publications and media engagements, we have also proved that the conditionalities attached as requirements to obtain the loan, make it inaccessible to the bulk of students from working-class families seeking higher education.”

Student loan bill

It could be recalled that the student loan bill which was introduced in 2016 was signed into law by President Tinubu-led administration in June, to establish a Student Loan Fund (SLF). The established scheme is to provide interest-free loans to Nigerians seeking higher education.

The bill titled “Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2023.” which is to take effect in January 2024 has however been condemned by the Education Right Campaign and tagged as ‘Scam’.

Culled from Premium Times Nigeria