- FG Releases Fresh Guidelines, Expands Scope To Skill Development Programmes
- To Develop App For Student Loan Scheme Application
- To Fund Scheme Through Education Tax Fund
With barely 9 days to the deadline set by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the commencement of the Student Loan Scheme, the president has issued fresh directives.
Shortly after receiving briefing from Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, Executive Secretary of Nigeria Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, on the build-up to the programme’s launch later in the month, President Tinubu has directed the management of NELFUND to expand its focus area by extending interest-free loans to Nigerian students interested in skill development programmes.
According to Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesperson, the President said it is essential for the scheme to accommodate those who may not want to pursue university education, noting that skill acquisition is as important as obtaining undergraduate and graduate academic qualifications.
“This is not an exclusive programme. It is catering to all of our young people. Young Nigerians are gifted in different areas. This is not only for those who want to be doctors, lawyers, and accountants. It is also for those who aspire to build our nation with their skilled and trained hands. By this, I have instructed NELFUND to explore all opportunities to teach skill-development programmes because not everybody wants to go through a full university education,” he said.
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President Tinubu emphasised the need for equity and inclusivity in the management of the programme, stating: “No matter how economically challenged you are, accredited and qualified students will and must have access to this loan to advance their education in higher institutions. There is no compromise in our commitment to the disadvantaged citizens of this nation.”
In his presentation to the President, the Executive Secretary of the fund, Sawyerr, said the loan application process will be technology-driven, limiting human interface and “eliminating any possibility of maladministration in the programme.”
Said he: “By design, this is a perpetual programme and will not terminate. The funds, earmarked for bona fide Nigerian students, will be disbursed directly to the institutions in the initial phase through electronic transfer. Our students will be catered to in a way that bypasses human interference through the full utilisation of available technological platforms in adherence to Your Excellency’s stated objectives.”
He also said NELFUND has developed a robust risk-mitigation mechanism to address potential risks arising from the programme.
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Sawyerr said, “It’s a pleasure to be here today to brief you on the impending launch of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, which is the bedrock that will operationalize the student loan scheme in Nigeria. It’s a great opportunity to help solve an age-old problem that has been on in this dear nation of ours for quite some time.
“There are many, many people with great capacity and with the desire to improve their education. And usually, the place where that falls down is when they get into the tertiary base. At that point they really have a number of options, either to go into the world of work with qualifications that are not necessarily optimal for them or to find ways of funding that tertiary space.
“When I say tertiary, some of it is academic. So, university education is generally regarded as academic but this programme seeks to provide opportunities for Nigerian students who want to go into the academic side and get a university degree or perhaps want to go into the technical side and go and acquire some vocational skills and some vocational qualifications which is always needed in society, and also in the teacher training space. Because you know, without teachers, really none of us are going very far. We have to learn from others and we have to have teachers.
“So, this is a great opportunity for that applicant, and they are the ones that are at the center of all of this. This act, effectively the intention behind it is to ensure that the reason for not being able to go on and further your education at a tertiary level, is not for the lack of finance.
“This law seeks to bridge the gap between the desire to study and the capacity to go further. It seeks to bridge that gap that is created by lack of finance, lack of funding.”
He added, “I want to say to you that this has been done with a lot of thought. So in application and in applying for this loan, there is zero human intervention. In other words, there is an app. The applicant will go on to a portal, they will engage with that app.
“They will have to put in certain pieces of information which made them eligible, that is their JAMB number, and of course the tie-in to their date of birth. Further pieces of information include things like their national identity number, NIN, which confirms that they are Nigerians.
“This loan scheme is being paid for by Nigerian tax payers. So, it’s for Nigerians and the NIN helps verify and qualify them as such.
“Their BVN is needed for financial inclusion because this scheme will at some point be able to empower students. So we need to know they have bank accounts. We need to know where their accounts are, to be able to access those accounts.
“It will also have their matric number, admission number so that we can firmly establishment which institution they are going because one of the key elements of this is that once we’ve received applications and those applications are approved, the fees or the tuition requirements in terms of financials will be transferred directly to the institution.
“That in itself has benefits for the institution. Many many students are struggling to pay their fees, their parents are struggling to pay their fees. There’s a very high dropout rate. So it’s one thing to get into the tertiary institution. It’s another thing to stay there for four years or for three years. This scheme seeks to help people access and remain until they qualify or graduate.”
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Speaking on the programme’s funding mechanism, Dr Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), said funding sources have been made available to ensure the smooth take off and sustenance of the programme.
“The President is permanently solving the problem of funding for education in Nigeria. By the directive of the President, the Education Tax Fund is being reviewed to additionally cater to the needs of our university students across all local government areas in the country as they seek to access vocational and traditional university education. Funding for the programme will be adequately covered,” he said.
Explaining further, Adedeji said, “This is in fulfillment of Mr President’s promise that we will make education accessible to all. And while I have to put my own is because of the source of funding. This is one of the schemes that we will apply Education Tax that we will collect. So, this is a way of being accountable to the taxpayer because the essence of Education Tax is to consolidate and restore education integrity and quality.
“And in fulfilling that part of the Act, so, that is why Education Tax Fund is one of the sources of funding, by God’s grace, that we’ll use actually to execute this laudable programme.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has unveiled plans to develop an app for applications into the student loan scheme. Sawyer made this known after the board met with President Tinubu in Abuja.
Sawyer said the move is to ensure zero human intervention in the scheme which is expected to start this year.
Sawyerr also assured that the process for applying for the loan would be devoid of human intervention as every action would be undertaken on an App specifically designed for the purpose.
He further disclosed that school fees for successful applicants would be transferred directly to their institutions, noting that while every Nigerian was eligible to apply for the loan, only the most needy would be supported.
