Nigerian govt to start giving out students loans in September

The Federal Government has started working out modalities for the release of loans to students by September.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, stated this while addressing journalists on the bill signed by President Bola Tinubu.

President Tinubu on Monday signed into law the student loan bill in fulfillment of a promise he made during his campaign.

The student loan bill sponsored by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, provides for interest-free loans to indigent Nigerian students.

Adejo said the law would provide easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.

The loan, according to him, covers students in private and public schools.

He said President Tinubu had also approved a committee comprising Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to supervise the process.

READ ALSO: Tinubu signs student loan bill into law

The permanent secretary said: “The bill will ensure that every Nigerian has access to higher education through the Higher Education Nigerian Bank.

“Learning from past mistakes, the bank is not going to be the type that will sit down and collect application loans.

”It will also perform normal banking functions and ensure loans are given because we had cases of loan recovery in the past.

“The Act as it is tells us the process, but as I speak with you today, the president has approved the committee made up of the ministries and agencies and their meeting will be coming up on June 20.

“The president has also directed that by September or October of this 2023/2024 academic session, he wants to see recipients of these loans. So it is a very serious march for us so between now and then we have to fast-track the process for people to get the loan.”

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