President Bola Tinubu has signed the Students Loan Bill into law.
At the signing on Wednesday in Abuja, President Tinubu commended the efforts of members of the National Assembly for the expeditious handling of the bill.
Sharpedgenews reports that the loan is part of the government’s implementation of Access to Higher Education Act, 2023.
The Act seeks to provide loans for indigent Nigerian students to pay fees in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The President said that his administration would continue to prioritise and encourage education among Nigerian youths as a tool to fight poverty.
“We are determined to ensure that education is given the proper attention necessary for the country (to develop), including skills development programmes.
“This is to ensure that no one, no matter how poor their background, is excluded from quality education and opportunity to build their future.
“We are here because we are all educated and we were helped in the past.
“We have seen a lot of our children drop out of colleges and are giving up the opportunity.”
President Tinubu said that the loan would ensure that the standard and control of the scheme were applied without discrimination against any Nigerian citizen.
The Act establishes the Nigerian Education Loan Fund which is expected to handle all loan requests, grants, disbursements and recovery of the loans provided.
NELFUND, according to the Act, is to be funded from multiple streams and will engage in other productive activities.
Its sources of funding, as dictated by the Act, include one per cent of all profits accruing to the Federal Government from oil and other minerals.
It also includes one per cent of taxes, levies and duties accruing to the Federal Government from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Nigerian Customs Service (NCS); education bonds and education endowment fund schemes.
According to the Act, the Loan will also be funded through donations, gifts, grants, endowment and revenue accruing to the fund from any other source.