Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The hope of many Nigerian students has again been dashed, as the Federal Government has announced the indefinite postponement of the the launch of the Nigerian Students Loan Scheme.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, who disclosed this during an interview with Arise News on Tuesday, simply said the postponement was necessitated by the corrections being effected concerning the scheme.
Previous attempts to launch the scheme in October 2023, and January 2024, were unsuccessful, thus leading to its reschedule for Thursday, March 14.
“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,” Sawyer said.
Recall that in 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 Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, and the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, was initially scheduled to commence between September and October 2023.
When it failed to kick off in October 2023, President Tinubu announced that the scheme would commence in January 2024.
Meanwhile, after it also failed to commence in January, the Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, announced during a meeting that preparations for the programme had been completed.
This included the development of the Student Loan Scheme website and planning for the programme’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 programme would start once its expansion to include additional features, such as vocational studies, was completed.
The indefinite suspension has dashed the hopes of several Nigerian students hoping to benefit from the scheme especially in the face of the biting economic hardship.
