Reps Commend President Tinubu for Signing Students Loan Act Into Law
By Gloria Essien, Abuja
The House of Representatives has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for signing the student Loan Bill into Law.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Students Loans, Scholarships and Higher Education Financing, Rep. Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka, gave the commendation at a press briefing in Abuja.
He said that the bill went through some amendments before being signed into law.
Isiaka said that the House and the Executive presented far-reaching changes.
“It is important that as we look at the advantages, we also look at the lessons to be learnt from that. To cut a long story short, we now have a law. The law has amended so many shortcomings in the 2023 law. We now have a stand-alone corporate entity that is called Nigeria Education Trust Fund. We now have a law that is not talking about discrimination of who gets what. The other law says that if your parents have a combined revenue of N500,000, you are not going to be entitled to the loan. All those areas have been removed. All those areas of guarantees and other provisions have also been removed” Isiaka said.
He said that the timeline for the commencement of the loan scheme would be in the hands of the executive.
He noted that any moment from now as provided by the law, a Managing Director, two Executive Directors and a secretary are to be announced for work to commence on the scheme.
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The lawmaker said that the loan being subsidy-free would encourage more students to participate and study courses of their choice.
He said that repayment of the loan is pegged at two years after graduating from school and if the beneficiary can not pay after two years, an extension would be given.
The Chairman also said that the loan does not cover students in private schools.
“For anybody that has the capacity to send his or her child to some of those private schools, you will agree with me that the need for a loan of this scheme is minimal,” he said.
He noted that defaulters of the scheme would be prosecuted and made to face two years imprisonment.
He added that persons with social vices are disqualified from accessing the loan
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had on Wednesday, April 3rd signed the Students Loan Bill into Law.
Emmanuel Ukoh
