Atiku Vows to Review NELFUND, Offer Student Debt Forgiveness, Labels Tinubu’s Claims ‘Dishonest’.

Atiku Vows to Review NELFUND, Offer Student Debt Forgiveness, Labels Tinubu’s Claims ‘Dishonest’.

Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has vowed to review the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) policy and provide debt forgiveness for qualifying students, dismissing as “dishonest” President Bola Tinubu’s attempt to present the scheme as evidence that education has become more affordable under his administration.

In a statement on Tuesday evening, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to the former vice president, Phrank Shaibu, responded to an overnight post by Tinubu on X in which the president attacked Atiku’s economic positions without naming him.

Shaibu described Tinubu’s invocation of NELFUND as a defence against Atiku’s proposal to cut energy costs as disingenuous. He argued that the administration had first driven up the cost of education before offering loans as a solution.

“Celebrating NELFUND as proof that education has become affordable under your government is like setting school fees on fire and then boasting that you lent students a bucket of water. What exactly is the wisdom in presiding over dramatic increases in school fees in some institutions, only to turn around and celebrate loans as the solution?” he asked.

He labelled the arrangement “witchcraft economics,” stating: “You make education more expensive, lend students money to survive the increase, and then demand applause for the rescue. That is not affordability. It is witchcraft economics: create the burden with one hand, offer debt with the other, and demand applause for the intervention.”

According to Shaibu, Atiku has already reviewed the existing student-loan framework and does not believe young Nigerians should start their working lives burdened by education debt.

“His approach will reduce the underlying cost of education and, after review, provide forgiveness for qualifying student debts so that young Nigerians can graduate with hope rather than repayment burdens. Education should open doors, not mortgage the future,” Shaibu said.

He insisted that a loan cannot be mistaken for a scholarship and that the true measure of any education policy is whether families can keep their children in school without being forced into borrowing. Government should not “parade the loan itself as evidence that the system is working” once the underlying cost of education has become prohibitive for ordinary families, he added.

Shaibu further accused the presidency of using scare tactics by suggesting that Atiku’s proposed energy intervention—targeted at Nigerian crude supplied for domestic refining—would undermine NELFUND, cut salaries or reverse the minimum wage.

“If your government has the arithmetic, Bola, publish it. Show Nigerians, line by line, how a transparently budgeted subsidy tied to Nigerian crude and domestic refining suddenly empties NELFUND or workers’ pay packets,” he demanded.

He maintained that Atiku’s position was the opposite of what the presidency claimed, arguing that reducing the cost of energy and transportation would allow workers’ salaries and students’ upkeep to go further.