According to Xclusivesongs, the federal government is working hard to guarantee that the recently enacted Students Loan Act is completely implemented in Nigeria by September 2023.
Mr David Adejo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, made the announcement in Abuja on Tuesday.
Mr. Adejo made the statement during a public meeting of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on student loans.
According to him, modalities had been put in place for the take-off of the student loans scheme in the 2023/2024 academic calendar.
The Permanent Secretary also noted that the signing of the Students’ Loan Act was not to blame for some of the increase in university costs across the country, adding that no federal university in the country is permitted to levy tuition fees.
Mr Adejo, in an attempt to clear the federal government, FG, stated that “what they collect is charges to cover the cost of accommodation, ICT, and power, among other things.” The Universities’ Governing Councils have the authority to authorize such charges for them.
“The University of Lagos is the only university that raised tuition after the Student Loans Act was signed.”
“They came to the Ministry with a proposal to raise their fees because all Governing Councils had been dissolved, and we approved it.”
“Immediately after that was done, there was a resolution from the House stopping the increase in fees, and the President also gave a directive stopping any increase in fees, and that is where it is, even though several others have brought their proposal,” he said, adding that “despite the charges, the universities had not been able to meet up with some of their expenses.”
Teseer Ugbor, the chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Students Loan, said the student loan was part of the federal government’s palliatives to ease Nigerians’ suffering and ensure access to higher education for all interested Nigerians.
While expressing concern about the disbursement procedure, the chairman added that modalities for recovering cash from recipients, as well as the likelihood of some students not being able to access the loan, were other issues to be concerned about.
He urged for debate as part of the process of amending the law to guarantee that all Nigerian students interested in the loan received it.
The students loan legislation, presented by former House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, passed second reading in the lower house on May 23, 2023 and was signed into law by President Tinubu on Monday, June 12, 2023.
According to government officials, the student loan act is intended to enhance the Nigerian education sector by providing students with interest-free loans.
It was learned that the initiative will provide destitute students with interest-free loans, with beneficiaries just paying back the same amount they get.
The initiative would also provide loans to impoverished students seeking higher education in the country’s public universities, polytechnics, and schools of education, as well as provide equal access to all indigent students.