The Nigerian Federal Government has released guidelines for accessing the Students Loans. According to report the loan scheme will start with students in the Federal Government -owned tertiary institutions across the country.
The report maintained that the Federal student will be the first batch of beneficiaries of the student loans scheme. It stated that the portal for the loan will open on Friday.
This was contained in a statement by the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr.
The NELFUND CEO, stated this yesterday, Monday, while unfolding the conditions would-be beneficiaries will be required to meet.
Recall that no fewer than 1.2 million students are expected to benefit from the cardinal programme of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration.
President Bola Tinubu had on April 3 signed into law the Bill on the scheme. This was in line with his electoral promise that no Nigerian student would drop out of school on account of lack of funds.
According to report, the cardinal programme will be funded with one per cent of the total annual collectable revenue by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
The 2024 revenue target given to the FIRS by the Government is N19.4 trillion.
Therefore, if FIRS meets this projection, then N194 billion will be available as a loan to the beneficiary students.
According to the law establishing the scheme, repayment of the loan will commence two years after the completion of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.
The NELFUND CEO, Sawyerr said students in Federal institutions such as universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and technical colleges, form the first batch. He stated that student whose institutions have completed and uploaded their student data would get the first opportunity.
“We are going to start with Federal institutions because it is a programme that we have to roll out in phases. It will eventually be rolled out to state-owned institutions,” he said.
The CEO also pointed out that no guarantor was needed for students to access the loan.
“Applicants would be required to provide their “Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) letter. National Identification Number (NIN), and Bank Verification Number (BVN).”
“Applicants are also to complete the application, including personal details, academic information and details of financial need. They are to submit the application after reviewing it.”
On the repayments of the loans, Sawyerr said the loanees, whether they are working with the Government or in the private sector, must pay back the loans after two years.
He explained: “The agency will pay 100 per cent of the fee for the loanees to the institution. There is also the track of providing stipends to the loanees.
“We only pay for one session at a time because people drop out of institutions. They change institutions or change their mind about the course they are doing.”
He said the agency was trying to make sure that it had as much information about the applicants as possible. And to be sure that they were bonafide Nigerian citizens and were of good standing.
“We also have various ways of working with security agencies. This is to ensure that the people who are applying for these loans are not people who may want to be fraudulent,” Sawyerr said.
source: The Nation
