The Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has called on African leaders to look at ways of promoting development initiatives that stood the chance of turning the fortunes of their people, especially the marginalised.
He explained that with the current state of development and global development trends, it was prudent for people in leadership positions in Africa to look at introducing interventions that can change the lives of their people.
Dr. Adutwum made the call when a five-member delegation from the Bayelsa State in Nigeria paid a courtesy call on him in Accra last Wednesday.
The delegation is expected to spend five days in the country to understudy Ghana’s Student’s Loan Scheme (SLS) and would have several engagements with the leadership and management of the Student’s Loan Trust (SLT) to share mode of operations, best practices, exchange ideas and experiences.
Dr. Adutwum charged African leaders to strive to increase Gross Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (GTER), since it was crucial for the development of every country.
He stated that if a country was able to increase its GTER, it would create an opportunity for a large number of the youth who would be ready to work towards the transformation and industrialisation of that country.
The leader of the Nigerian delegation, Dr. Michael Ameagberi, Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Higher Education Student Loan Board, said they started operating a student loan scheme three years ago and decided to knock on the doors of Ghana which had a barrage of experience when it comes to student’s loan management.
He lauded Dr. Adutwum for the good policies he was rolling out in the country’s education sector to improve the lives of the people.
He was upbeat that the visit to Ghana would help them gain an insight into Ghana’s experience in the student’s loan scheme among other good education initiatives that are worth emulating by other countries.
Dr. Ameagberi said their loan scheme currently is managing about 5,000 students, adding that, the experiences from Ghana would go a long way to help improve the knowledge and how to improve on the operationalisation of the loan scheme of the Bayelsa State, which would soon be adopted by other Nigerian universities.
The Chief Executive Officer of SLT, Nana Agyei Yeboah, assured the Nigerian delegation of its readiness to assist them with the right support to improve the operations of the student’s loan scheme.
He pledged to help deepen the relationship between Ghana and Nigeria through an exchange of ideas in various fields of endeavour.
Bayelsa State Higher Education is the first University in Nigeria to operate a student’s loan scheme.