President Bola Tinubu has signed the Nigeria’s Student Loan Bill into law.
Giving out student loan was one of Tinubu’s campaign promises and he said at the time that it was part of his effort to develop the education sector and also build the youth capacity.
Chief of Staff to the president, Femi Gbajabiamila; a member of the President’s Strategic team, Dele Alake; spokesman of the president, Tunde Rahman; a presidential spokesman, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz; and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, David Adejoh; witnessed the signing.
The bill which was sponsored by Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, makes provision for funds to be domiciled in the Ministry of Education and will only be accessed by indigent students of tertiary institutions. It provides easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.
Mr. Alake, a member of the Presidential Strategic Team, announced that the bill has been signed into law on Monday, June 12.
When asked if the new law will not encourage inflation of school fees, Alake said the two situations are unrelated, adding that the idea behind the law is to help indigent students obtain education in the country.
He said: “We are very happy to announce to you that today, just a few minutes ago, the President His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, signed into law, the Student Loans Bill and that Student Loans Bill, you all know what it entails, what it connotes the meaning.
“This is the promise made during the presidential campaign by the then candidate, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that he will bring back the student loans issue to the front burner and today, that promise he made has been kept, he has just signed that bill into law, which henceforth, will allow or enable our indigent students to access federal government loans to fund their educational pursuit or career and this is how it’s done in other developed climes all over the world”