The Federal Government has revealed that it is currently working out modalities to commence the disbursement of student’s loan by September 2023.
This is coming 3 days after President Bola Tinubu signed the student loan bill into law with the aim of giving students access to interest-free loans.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejo, who disclosed these to journalists at a press conference in Abuja, said higher institutions cannot introduce tuition fees because of the introduction of the loan scheme.
According to him, the institutions are not autonomous.
“The President has approved the constitution of an inter-ministerial committee on student loans made up of the necessary ministries and agencies. The inaugural meeting will come up on Tuesday, June 20, 2023. The President has also directed that by September/October 2023/2024 academic session, he wants to see recipients of the loan. So it’s a serious business.
The Spokesperson for the Federal Government, Dele Alake, said the funds will be domiciled in the Ministry of Education and will only be accessed by indigent students of tertiary institutions.
The student loan bill sponsored by the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, which provides for interest-free loans to indigent Nigerian students, passed the third reading at the House, about 2 weeks ago.
The law is to provide easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.
