Students Loan Scheme: Knocks as FG fails to meet January deadline

In June 2023, President Bola Tinubu ratified legislation enabling interest-free educational loans for Nigerians pursuing tertiary education.

Following this, the government pledged that Nigerian students could access these loans starting January 2024.

Tinubu assured students that perpetual strikes would soon be eradicated, emphasizing the significance for the future of students.

The Access to Higher Education Act, also known as the Students Loan Act of 2023, established an Education Loan Fund to support Nigerians in funding their higher education, with repayments beginning two years after completing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program.

Initially proposed in 2016 by Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, the bill gained traction in the National Assembly in November 2022 after being reintroduced in 2019.

In December 2023, Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, confirmed the imminent implementation of the Students Loan Scheme, emphasizing its online accessibility.

However, as January passed without the scheme’s launch, hope dwindled for its commencement.

Chinoso Obasi, a former National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), expressed concern over the government’s failure to implement the scheme as promised, suggesting that the announcement might have been a ploy for public approval.

Obasi noted that despite the allocated budget of N50 billion for 2024, the scheme had yet to materialize. He also highlighted the scheme’s history, its origins in the 2014 National Confab, and the government’s lack of acknowledgment for such initiatives.

NANS President Lucky Emonefe criticized government officials for neglecting to consult student leaders, stressing the necessity of such collaboration for effective implementation.