- The Federal Government announced on Wednesday that the inauguration has been postponed for an additional four weeks
The National Association of Nigerian Students expressed disappointment in the Federal Government’s Education Loan Scheme, as the government announced yet another suspension of the program on Wednesday.
Initially scheduled for inauguration on Thursday by President Bola Tinubu, the scheme has faced multiple delays.
However, the Federal Government announced on Wednesday that the inauguration has been postponed for an additional four weeks.
While reacting to the development, the Senate President, NANS, Afeez Akinteye, said “Many Nigerian students have lost hope in the loan. Some even believe it will not work again. But we, the executives of NANS, are optimistic because we are closer to the government and asking them questions.
“We are not happy about the delay. We have been monitoring and following up on what is happening. As of Monday last week, they told us they would launch it on Thursday but late on Wednesday, they told us some items on it were not functioning, there are some hitches around it.
“The advice we gave them was to perfect it instead of rushing the unveiling. We are meeting the Executive Secretary tomorrow (Thursday) and with the seriousness of the President, we believe it will work out. It is already in the budget so the financial aspect is not a problem.”
In June 2023, President Tinubu signed a bill to start a Students Loan Fund that would give interest-free loans to Nigerians for higher education.
Meanwhile, Tinubu said the programme would begin in January 2024, after missing the October 2023 deadline.
Also commenting, the National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, advised the FG to convert the loan to scholarships, grants, or bursaries, saying there were no jobs in Nigeria for quick repayment.
He added, “Our position has been made know we don’t believe it will work because it has been there in the past, it didn’t work out. If they have compassion for the young boys and girls of this country, it should be converted to bursary, grant, or scholarship not loans because there is no job in this country.”
On the contrary, the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Sonny Echono assured that the launch of the loan scheme had only been postponed for a couple of weeks and not indefinitely.
Echono said the delay in the launch was only to make sure that there were no complications in the proper implementation of the scheme, adding that they wanted to ensure the scheme was up to standard.
Echono’s clarification followed the announcement by the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer who said that the unveiling of the scheme had been suspended indefinitely.