The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, has given reason for the indefinite postponement of the highly-anticipated Student Loan Scheme.
Sawyer announced the postponement on Tuesday during an interview with Arise News on.
Sawyer explained that the loan which was earlier scheduled for launching on Thursday was again postponed due to some corrections being made regarding the launch.
He said, “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.”
Recall that in June 2023, President Bola Tinubu signed a bill to establish a Students Loan Fund that would provide interest-free loans to Nigerians for higher education.
The bill, sponsored by Femi Gbajabiamila, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, was initially scheduled to commence between September and October 2023.
President Tinubu announced that the scheme would commence in January 2024 after his government failed to meet the October deadline the previous year.
In January, the Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, announced during a meeting that preparations for the program had been completed. This included the development of the Student Loan Scheme website and planning for the program’s commencement.
President Tinubu reassured the leaders of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) during their visit to the State House in Abuja that the program would start once its expansion to include additional features, such as vocational studies, was completed.
