Nigerian govt postpones launch of students loan indefinitely

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

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, disclosed this on Tuesday during an interview with Arise News.

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, had proposed the bill.

Meanwhile, the loan scheme was supposed to start between September and October 2023.

After missing the deadline, Tinubu declared that the programme would begin in January 2024.

In January, the Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, said at a meeting that preparations for the programme were finished as the website for the scheme, and planning how to kick start the programme had been done.

READ ALSO: ASUU rejects students loan scheme, demands for grants instead

Tinubu also informed the leaders of the National Association of Nigerian Students that the programme would start once they added more features, like vocational studies.

However, barely 48 hours before the launch, Sawyer said the loan scheme was postponed due to some corrections that were being made around the launch.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to commit to a specific date. We are sort of waiting to ensure that all the stakeholders are aligned to make sure that nobody is blindsided, then we can actually roll this out in a meaningful, comprehensive, wholesome and sustainable way,” he said.

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