BY Stephen Kenechi
The re-enacted student loan policy of the federal government has eliminated the eligibility clause requiring applicants to provide a guarantor and declare their family income.
President Bola Tinubu, in June 2023, enacted the student loan policy to grant interest-free loans to needy students.
The scheme was slated to commence between September and October 2023 but implementation was repeatedly deferred.
The policy was also heavily criticised for its stringent requirements which many stakeholders argued would render the scheme inaccessible to indigent students who need it the most.
These included that the prospective applicant’s family’s annual income must be less than N500,000.
Another was that they needed two guarantors including a civil servant with 12 or more years in the service and a lawyer of at least 10 years post-call.
In March, the president wrote to the national assembly requesting the repeal and reenactment of the law.
At the state house in Abuja on April 3, Tinubu signed the re-enactment bill into law, effectively repealing and reintroducing the policy.
Ajuri Ngelale, the special adviser to the president, said the repealed Student Loan Act of 2023 had challenges bordering on governance, management, purpose, eligibility criteria for applicants, method for application, repayment provisions, and recovery of the loans.
Ngelale said the amendments made to the policy include the establishment of the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as a corporate administrative body tasked with overseeing loan contracts and initiating action to ensure repayment.
NELFUND is also tasked with providing loans to qualified Nigerians for tuition, fees, charges, and upkeep during their studies in approved tertiary academic institutions and vocational and skills acquisition institutions in Nigeria.
The fund is also meant to build, operate, and maintain a diversified pool of funds to provide loans to qualified applicants and ensure access to higher education, vocational training, and skills acquisition.
Below are other attributes of NELFUND as reflected in the amendments in the Student Loans Act 2024:
The re-enactment act also adjusted the eligibility criteria for applicants.
The re-enactment establishes a justice and fairness provision mandating the Board to ensure a minimum national spread of loans approved and disbursed in each financial year.
Applicants to the fund may seek loans to cover, tuition, other fees payable to the school, and maintenance allowance payable to the student.
Adjustments were also made to the guiding principles surrounding the repayment of loans by beneficiaries:
Ngelale said the re-enacted legislation “effectively removes the previous encumbrances” in its first iteration.
“It paves the path for the protection of Nigeria’s future by ensuring that citizens have the means to fund their education, acquire critical skills, and become productive contributors to national development,” the special adviser added.
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