The President, Bola Tinubu has signed into law a student Loan Bill.
A special aide to the president, Dele Alake, made this disclosure to State House Correspondents on Monday (June 12, 2023).
According to him, the bill will encourage Nigerian students to access loans at interest-free rates to pursue their dreams academically.
The presidential spokesman, Mr. Dele Alake, made this disclosure at the end of the signing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday (Jun 12, 2023).
He said The bill would encourage young people all around the nation to pursue their education, but it also stipulates that to use the facility, students must provide proof of their financial need.
He continued by saying, that a committee drawn from all the relevant education stakeholders would be set up to handle the process of an efficient disbursement of the loans.
Alake said that a percentage of the revenue of the Federation would be used to finance the new initiative.
Mr. Andrew Adejo, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, said the bill would rest the case of lack of funds hindering indigents’ educational pursuit.
He stated that the bill’s signing represented the Tinubu administration’s intentions for how it will approach the issue of qualitative and quantitative education during its tenure.
According to Adejo, the ministry already had financial contacts with students under its student scholarship boards program.
He continued by saying that how the nation handled loan recovery in various projects would be helpful in recovering loans.
He also explained that the interest-free loan would be disbursed in accordance with the student’s ability to repay it and the number of years of study.
According to the permanent secretary, the media should help spread knowledge about the problem of education funding in the nation.
H advised the states to enlist the financial and technical assistance of the federal government to provide high-quality education for Nigerians.
The Students Loan Bill recommended two years imprisonment or N500,000 or both for students who default in repayment or anyone found aiding defaulters.
The House of Representatives has as of May 25, 2023, passed the bill after its second reading.
The measure, which Gbajabiamila sponsored, was titled “A Bill for an Act to Provide for Easy Access to Higher Education for Nigerians Through an Interest-Free Loan from the Nigerian Education Bank Established in This Act to Provide Education for Nigerians and Other Purposes Connected Thereto.”
