The Federal Government yesterday said it will open the process for the disbursement of student loans between September and October.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, revealed this to journalists in Abuja while discussing the new Student Loan Act.
This follows the signing of the Student Loan Bill on Monday by President Bola TInubu.
Adejo said the law will ensure that every Nigerian has access to higher education through the Higher Education Nigerian Bank.
He continued: “We are not going to use existing banks. We are going to create a new bank that will address this. Learning from past mistakes, the bank is not going to be the type to sit down and collect application loans.
“It will also perform normal banking functions and make sure loans are given because we have had cases of loan recovery in the past.
“The Act as it is tells us the process, but as I speak with you today, the President has approved a committee made up of the ministries and agencies, and their meeting will be coming up on June 20.
“The President has also directed that by September to October of this 2023–2024 academic session, he wants to see recipients of these loans. It is a very serious march for us, so between now and then we have to fathom the process for people to get the loan.”
He noted that aside from the creation of a specialised bank for the operation of the loans, there would be a tracking system for the efficient and smooth running of the scheme.
He explained that the purpose of the loan is to enable applicants to get into an education programme either in the public or private institutions, and subsequently get employed, adding that recovery will commence when the applicant is employed.
