Loan

Abuja, March 15, 2024: The Senate at plenary on Thursday passed for second reading, a bill to repeal and enact the Students Loan Access to Higher Education Act, 2024.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele (APC-Ekiti).

The President of Senate, Godswill Akpiabio, had read a letter from President Bola Tinubu, transmitting the bill to senate for consideration and passage.

Following this, the bill was read for first reading and consequently second reading after debate.

Leading debate on the bill, Bamidele said it sought to enhance the implementation of the higher education loan scheme, by addressing challenges relating to management structure of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELF).

He said the bill would also address applicant’s eligibility requirements, purpose of loan, funding sources and disbursement.

Bamidele said the bill also had the objectives to provide loan to qualified Nigerians to pay tuition, charges and upkeep during their course of study in approved tertiary education institutions, vocational and skills acquisition institutions in Nigeria.

According to him, the bill will help 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.

He said the bill would help to ensure the recovery of all debts due to the fund from loan granted to qualified applicants, except where the board is of the opinion that a loanee should be exempted from repayment.

He said this would be in the event of death, considerations of hardship and impossibility or undue difficulty to repay the loan.

He appealed to the lawmakers to give the bill expeditious passage because of its strategic importance to manpower development, in line with the policy thrust of the Tinubu’s administration.

Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Barau Jibrin (APC-Kano) said President Tinubu had signed the bill when he assumed office, adding that the president brought the principal act back for amendment.

This, he said, was to ensure easy execution and give opportunity to indigent students who wanted to be educated but did not have the wherewithal.

Barau said the bill would provide finance and allow them access to finance for their education and be educated.

“No other president has shown a passion to help advance our tertiary educational system like President Tinubu.

“Let us give him all the necessary encouragement to make sure that this bill succeeds and he implements it.

“We commend him for continuing on this trajectory until he takes our tertiary educational system to the next stage,” Barau said.

The bill, after it passed second reading, was referred to Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for further legislative inputs and report back to plenary on the next legislative date.

Abuja, Oct. 2024: President Bola Tinubu has declared that the students’ loan programme would commence full operation in January 2024.

Tinubu made the announcement at the 29th Economic Summit organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, in Abuja on Monday.

The president assured Nigerians that government-owned tertiary institutions would no longer go on strike.

He admitted that Nigerians were feeling the short-term negative impact of his reforms but promised that everyone would soon enjoy the benefits.

The president also assured that Nigeria would honour all future foreign exchange contracts.

“All foreign exchange contracts will be honoured by this government, I assure you we have a line of sight to the foreign exchange we need to refloat this economy and we will get it,” he said.

Tinubu said that as the naira continued its free fall at the parallel market, he would clear foreign exchange contracts backlog discouraging investors’ confidence.

The Chairman of the NESG, Mr Niyi Yusuf, said that with more than 133 million multidimensionally poor Nigerians, there were potentially more risks of stagnation and distress if a low-growth and low-investment era persisted.

“ The future of the Nigerian child is at stake, across every geopolitical zone, the Nigerian ageing population is also at risk, there is a high prospect that a retiree’s savings and investments will be eroded entirely just a few years into the first or second decade of retirement.

“ Our high fertility rate which is driving a much higher population growth than economic growth poses a risk of an unproductive population bulge, with an unmanageable social infrastructure cost and burden for supporting our children’s health, nutrition and education,” Yusuf said.

He said that Nigeria’s Multi- trillion dollar economy would be viable within a decade of serious reform, consistent economic action and deliberate institutional reforms.

Yusuf said, ”Our nation stands at a critical precipice, and our challenges demand immediate, concerted efforts. We need to act now with a shared sense of urgency.

“ The Multi-Trillion Dollar Economy growth trajectory will urgently need certain actions including.

“ A macroeconomic stabilisation programme supported by an aggressively scaled national security effort to halt all forms of syndicated and organised crime around crude oil and solid minerals.

“ A Made-in-Nigeria Agenda. To Make-in-Nigeria, two strategic drivers require urgent investment: a national emergency energisation programme.

”This is to enable access to stable, predictable and affordable electricity supply and a national infrastructure corridor development programme – an efficient and integrated transport and logistics network that links value chains to sea, air and land ports.”

According to him,  a national job creation plan that drives the creation of a huge volume of high-quality jobs and a revised national assets optimisation plan that ensures critical national assets are fully utilized and productive.

Yusuf said, ‘This is if we must sell, concession or commercialise some assets to achieve the desired level of productivity.

“ A national competitiveness plan that defines the sectors where we have a competitive advantage, export expansion targets to achieve a trade surplus and a positive balance of payment.”

He said that the government needed a new compact with the Nigerian child that guaranteed their promising, secure and safe future.

“We also need a revitalised national security policy and strategy to protect lives, properties and our national assets,” he said.

Yusuf said that achieving a multi-trillion dollar economy would require a paradigm shift, big, bold actions, tough choices and significant sacrifices by all of us, saying, “We all are witnesses to the outcomes of delayed and deferred action. “

The chairman said that NESG was ready to support the government to model the tough choices required and the associated palliative measures to ameliorate the short-term impact on the populace.

Yusuf said that the new administration had unveiled eight priorities of government which focus on economic growth and job creation, ending poverty, access to capital, inclusivity, food security, national security, fairness and the rule of law and anti-corruption stance.

“ This provides a strategic perspective of the Government’s grasp of both the issues and solutions to the national crises and also for the transformation of the Nigerian economy into one that is competitive, sustainable, inclusive and open.

“ This is possible only if public and private sector leaders work together towards the same national vision,” he said.

Yusuf said that this year’s summit had been calibrated as a burning platform to answer the question of the essential pillars of economic transformation that would get us to the future envisaged by the government.

“ The need for urgent strategic shifts that impact the ease and cost of doing business within a relatively short period is a matter of existential threat to the survival of enterprises and entrepreneurs,” he said.

Also, In the last eight years, the NESG had kept faith with the Government and Nigerians as a dialogue partner, watchdog, connector and intervener.

Yusuf expressed gratitude to the Federal Government, members of the private and public sector partners and the international community for their dedication, participation, and belief in the realisation of a stable, sustainable, secure, inclusive, and economically prosperous Nigeria.

Abuja, Aug. 1, 2023: President Bola Tinubu has approved provision of buses to the students’ bodies of all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country.

The President has also approved the removal of all restrictions on the students’ loan to make it available to any student or household that may desire it.

President Tinubu’s decisions were the desire to ease the burden of the fuel subsidy removal on students of higher institutions of learning.

This is contained in a statement by Mr Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy on Monday in Abuja.

He said it was the desire of the President to see that students can access their campuses without much difficulty as a result of higher transportation costs.

The provision of the buses will also remove the burden of additional cost of daily commuting on parents and guardians.

The new policy on student loans, he said was in line with his promise to ensure no Nigerian student abandons his or her educational pursuits as a result of inadequate finances of their parents.

Similarly, Tinubu directed the authorities in all Federal tertiary institutions to avoid arbitrary increase in sundry fees payable and where possible defer further increase to ease the difficulties faced by parents.

The president also said that efforts are being worked out to ensure that vulnerable students can also benefit from conditional cash transfers and food distribution.

Tinubu saluted the courage, wisdom and partnership of Nigerian Students as the country navigates this challenging time.

He pledged to continue to prioritise education, the needs of the students, welfare of both teaching and non-academic staff as well as infrastructure investment in institutions of higher learning to make them more globally competitive.

President Bola Tinubu has signed the Students Loans Bill into Law, which was part of his campaigns promises.

The law would allow indigent students in tertiary institutions to access a Federal Government loan for the duration of their studies.

Mr Dele Alake, a presidential spokesman, disclosed this on Monday at the end of the signing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Alake said the bill would boost the educational  pursuit of the youths across the country, adding that to enjoy the facility,  students must show evidence of being indigent.

He said that a committee drawn from all the relevant educational stakeholders would be set up to handle the process of an efficient disbursement of the loans.

Alake said that a percentage of the revenue of the Federation would be used to finance the new initiative.

Mr Andrew Adejo, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, said  the bill would rest the case of lack of fund hindering indigents educational pursuit.

He said the signing of the bill signified how the Tinubu administration intended to handle the issue of qualitative and quantitative education in its period.

Adejo said the ministry already had experience in students financial dealings through the student scholarship boards scheme.

He added that the country’s handling of loans recovery in various projects would also come handy in the recouping of loans.

He added that the interest free loan would be disbursed based on the students number of years of study and ability to pay back.

The permanent secretary said  the media should assist in disseminating information on the issue of funding of education in the country.

H said the states should march the financial and technical support of the Federal Government in order to give Nigerians good education.

Money Lenders Association has warned individuals to desist from obtaining loans from licensed money lending platforms and deliberately refuse to liquidate such loans.

Mr Gbemi Adelekan, President, Money Lenders Association, gave the warning to online loan defaulters on Friday in Lagos.

Adelekan reminded such defaulters to be aware that their data were domiciled in the databases of credit bureaus licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to him, failure to repay such loans will attract negative repercussions on borrowers’ credit history.

Adelekan said that the development can affect their chances of obtaining loan facilities from other financial institutions and credit providers in future.

He, however, stated that borrowers with genuine reasons for default such as job loss or other peculiar circumstances were advised to contact their respective lenders immediately, to discuss new repayment arrangements.

He advised would be borrowers to only patronise licensed and registered money lenders to guide against becoming a victim of fraudulent practices.

“This is to avoid adverse information on their credit reports, that could deny them access to future credit facilities.

“The attention of Money Lenders Association has been drawn to some individuals who have continued to acquire loans but have deliberately refused repayment of the said loans.

“We wish to inform the general public that data of loan customers, most especially defaulters, are domiciled in the databases of credit bureaus, so defaulting would have its adverse effects on the credit history of such individual.

“The Money Lenders Association is an association of registered money lenders, and members abide by the professional code of conduct of the association.

“Members of the public are hereby advised to only patronise licensed money lenders for their short-term loan needs and for further information, kindly check www.MoneyLenders.ng,” he said.