FG postpones students loan launch indefinitely

The Federal Government has postponed the launch of the Nigerian Students Loan Scheme indefinitely.

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, made this known during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday.

In June 2023, President Bola Tinubu signed a bill to start a Students Loan Fund that would give interest-free loans to Nigerians for higher education.

A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, proposed the bill and it was supposed to start between September and October 2023.

Meanwhile, Tinubu said the programme would begin in January 2024, after missing the October deadline.
At a meeting in January, Yusuf Sununu, the Minister of State for Education, declared that the program's preparations were complete. Creating the Student Loan Scheme website and organising the program's launch were part of this.

The National Association of Nigerian Students' leaders were also informed by Tinubu that the curriculum will begin as soon as additional components, such as vocational studies, were introduced.

But just 48 hours prior to the launch, Sawyer announced that some adjustments were being made, which resulted in the lending programme being delayed.

Regretfully, I am unable to commit to a particular date. We're sort of waiting for everyone to get in sync so that no one gets caught off guard before we truly implement this in a significant,