BREAKING: State varsities’ students to benefit from FG’s loan scheme
During a press conference held in Abuja on Thursday, Akintunde Sawyerr, the managing director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, revealed that the website of the student loan fund has garnered more than 60,000 views since its launch.
Only two federal universities and two federal polytechnics have not yet submitted their student lists, according to Sawyerr, who also pointed out that more than 90% of federal institutions have already done so.
Sawyerr added that within the next three weeks, students at state universities will have access to the programme.
The Access to Higher Education Act, 2023 was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on June 12, 2023, allowing impoverished students to obtain interest-free loans for their academic endeavours at any Nigerian postsecondary institution.
According to Dele Alake, a member of the Presidential Strategy Team at the time, the action was taken in "fulfilment of one of his campaign promises to liberalise funding of education."
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund was also established by the Act, also referred to as the Students Loan Law, to handle all loan requests, grants, disbursements, and recovery.
Despite the government's initial announcement that the programme would begin in September, there were multiple setbacks that resulted in an indefinite postponement in the beginning of March.
The Tinubu directive to expand the programme to include loans for vocational skills was cited by the Presidency as the reason for the delay.
On January 22, following a briefing by the NELFUND team, which was headed by Dr. Yusuf Sununu, the Minister of State for Education, the President ordered the Fund to extend interest-free loans to Nigerian students interested in skill-development programmes.
Based on the need for the programme to accommodate individuals who might not wish to pursue a university education, Tinubu made his decision, emphasising that developing one's skills is just as important as earning undergraduate and graduate degrees.
