The Federal Government has announced its commitment to developing an app for student loan applications, aiming for a streamlined process. Executive Secretary Akintunde Sawyer of the Student Loan Scheme Board revealed this after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja on Monday.

Sawyer emphasized that the app aims to eliminate human intervention, enhancing efficiency in the student loan scheme scheduled to kick off this year.

“By design, this is a perpetual programme and will not terminate. The funds, earmarked for bonafide Nigerian students, will be disbursed directly to the institutions in the initial phase through electronic transfer. Our students will be catered to in a way that bypasses human interference through the full utilisation of available technological platforms, in adherence to Your Excellency’s stated objectives,” the statement quoted him as saying.

He said NELFUND has developed a robust risk-mitigation mechanism to address potential risks that may arise from the programme.

The move aligns with Tinubu’s earlier declaration that the scheme would commence in January 2024.

During the National Economic Summit 2023 in Abuja, President Tinubu assured students, stating, “By January 2024, the new student loan must commence. To the future of our children and students, we are saying no more strikes,” signaling a commitment to addressing educational challenges.

The student loan bill, signed by President Tinubu on Nigeria’s Democracy Day, was initially proposed by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.

The bill, now part of Chief of Staff Gbajabiamila’s achievements, facilitates access to interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, domiciled in the Ministry of Education, exclusively for indigent students in tertiary institutions.

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TECHDIGEST – The Federal Government says it is working out modalities to begin students loan between September and October 2023.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday while addressing newsmen on the bill signed by President Bola Tinubu.

NAN reports that President Tinubu on Monday signed into law the Student Loan Bill in fulfilment of a promise he made during his campaign.

The student loan bill sponsored by the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, provides for interest-free loans to indigent Nigerian students.

Adejo said the law would provide easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.

The loan, he said, covers the loan students in private and public schools.

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He said that president Tinubu had also approved a committee made up of ministries and agencies to see to the fruition of the loan scheme.

According to him, the bill is to make sure that every Nigerian has access to higher education through what we called the Higher Education Nigerian Bank.

“Learning from past mistakes, the bank is not going to be the type that will sit down and be collecting application loans.
”It will also perform normal banking functions and make sure loans are given because we had cases of loan recovery in the past.

“The Act as it is tells us the process, but as I speak with you today, the president has approved the committee made up of the ministries and agencies and their meeting will be coming up on June 20.

“The president has also directed that by September to October this 2023/2024 academic session, he wants to see recipients of these loans. So it is a very serious march for us so between now and then we have to phantom the process for people to get the loan,” he said.

The Permanent Secretary also said government would create a specialised bank for the operation of the loans, noting that there would be a tracking system for efficient smooth running of the loans scheme.

He said this would cover both students in Private and public schools, adding that the government would also create a new bank for it.

“We are not going to use existing banks. We are going to create a new bank that will address this because we can’t use an existing bank.

“We don’t want to make it that only people who wants to go to public schools will benefit from it, private schools are paying tuition so you have to give them the opportunity.

“The loan is for you to get an education programme and get employed, then you start paying back. The loan recovery does not start until you get employed.

While commending president Tinubu for this stride said, ”Our current president today is a job creator from his experience from the private sector and he has given us policy direction and job creation is one of the things he is going to do, even though you cannot create job for every body.”(NAN)

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