President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced the federal government will commence the disbursement of student loan to Nigerians by January 2024.
Tinubu who spoke at the openings session of the ongoing Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Monday, said that the program is in furtherance of his commitment to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians.
“You have my commitment that my government will act on all its promises and the summit report when it is received. Be ready to challenge me after you have crafted those recommendations,” he said.
Read also: Tuition hike worries linger as student loan drags
Students and parents are worried over the recent hikes in tuition by some higher institutions amid the delay in the implementation of a loan scheme expected to start this month.
The student loan scheme was initiated by President Tinubu’s administration to provide interest-free education loans for Nigerians willing to acquire tertiary education.
BusinessDay gathered that most of the processes required for implementation as stipulated by the law are not yet in place.
Read also: Tinubu removes restrictions on students loan, to provide school buses
With its enactment earlier in June, the Access to Higher Education Act, 2023, otherwise known as students loan Act, established an Education Loan Fund to help Nigerians fund their higher education, while they pay in installments two years after completing their participation in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.
As at two months ago, BusinessDay findings show the implementing ministries and agencies are yet to put together modalities to ensure the smooth take-off of the scheme as set by the law.
It was also gathered that issues of funding, modalities and guidelines for disbursement of the loan to students were yet to be set and defined by the government.
The proposed education bank that will facilitate disbursement as contained in the Act has not been established.
Detail later…..
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