The Federal Government has postponed the launch of the Nigerian Students Loan Scheme indefinitely following three previous postponements.
According to the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, the loan scheme was postponed due to some corrections that were being made around the launch.
Speaking on Arise TV, Sawyer 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.”
The bill to start a Students Loan Fund that would give interest-free loans to Nigerians for higher education was signed by President Bola Tinubu in June 2023.
It is the fourth time that the initiative has been postponed after it was initially scheduled to kick off in September/October of 2023.
It was then pushed to January and later scheduled for launch on February 21 but failed to take place before its postponement to March 14 which has now been canceled.
Although the federal government insists on tuition-free in its universities, Several Public Institutions have announced increase in sundry fees since the Students loan bill was signed into law in June, 2023.
Some of them including the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Edo State; University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) and the University of Lagos increased its charges, bringing the fees for the 2023/2024 academic session to as much as N240,250 depending on the courses of study and levels.
