The launch of the Nigerian Students Loan scheduled to hold on Thursday has been postponed indefinitely by the Federal Government.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, who disclosed this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, explained that the delay was due to some corrections being made regarding the launch.
“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.”
It would be recalled 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.
