Tanzania Standard Newspapers|Home

Home News

HESLB strikes contract with auctioneers to collect student debts

ABDULWAKIL SAIBOKO
Daily News; Saturday,November 01, 2008 @22:45

Also in the News

Ngorongoro to build visitors' centre

TCRA consumer council soothes GTV customers

Serengeti tobacco farmers to get 1.6bn/-

JK denounces military coups

NIC restructuring takes off

Prisons facility caters for children, says Kagasheki

Private hospitals told to follow govt orders

Loss of life solace by wild animals reaches 1m/-

Govt pledges to boost TIB's capital

Security guards urged to protect albinos

Higher Education Student’s Loans Board (HESLB) has entered into a contract with five auctioneers to collect debts from loan beneficiaries in all regions countrywide. Speaking at the board’s one-day consultative meeting in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the HESLB’s Executive Director, George Nyatega said that the Board reached the decision after the hardship it faced in collecting debts from the beneficiaries.

He named the auctioneers as Coast Auction Mart Co Ltd for Eastern zone, Yono Auction Mart and Company Ltd, Majembe Auction Mart Ltd, Dodoma Universal Trading Co Ltd and Nakara Auction Mart Co Ltd. Mr Nyatega added that HESLB inherited loans amounting to 51.1bn/- issued to 111,240 students by the government through the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology between 1994/95 and 2004/2005.

He added that out of the 51bn/-, instalments worth 20.7bn/- were due for repayment implying the beneficiaries should have by then paid the amount. “By October 28 this year a total of 10,701 loan beneficiaries out of 113,240 granted loans from 1994/1995 to 2004/2005 have been traced. The Board has during the same period collected a total of 1.1bn/- out of 51.1bn/-,” he said.

The Director noted that the low pace of repayment indicated that the Board was not capable to successfully collect the loans on its own, making the decision to appoint debt collectors inevitable. Mr Nyatega further stated that the Board did not have the data-base of the loan beneficiaries living abroad, adding that his office was collaborating with ambassadors to get information.

He emphasised that the money advanced to higher learning students was in loans and not grants as some would have wished. “This is a great challenge we are facing. Some beneficiaries are reluctant to repay the loans because they say they were grants. This notion is wrong and we should learn to accept the truth and face it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Nyatega lamented over a meagre resource allocation to the board especially in this 2008/2009 budget. He said that out 140.3bn/- requested by the board, only 117bn/- was granted, adding that the demands of qualified loan applicants were far above that. He called upon the government through the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to elevate the budget so that the board may successfully meet the demands.

View Visitor's comments on this Story

COMMENTS ON THE STORY

Name:	Philip, Puja
Name:	pujap2001@yahoo.com
Comment:	It is high time for HESLB to stop getting money from the government but should instead collect the loans and recycle the same to grant more loans. HESLB should learn from what other countries are doing in granting and collecting loans from the benefiaciaries.

Comment on the story

Please Send us your comments or views on the story above

First Name:
Last name:
Email:
Country
Comment: