PHOTO NEWS: Consultative meeting on Skills, Access and Students Loans Scheme anchored by Tetfund
Consultative meeting on Skills, Access and Students Loans Scheme anchored by Tetfund
The Federal Government had voted N50bn in the 2024 budget for the implementation of its student loan scheme.
“To address long-standing issues in the education sector, a more sustainable model of funding tertiary education will be implemented, including the Student Loan Scheme scheduled to become operational by January 2024.
The Access to Higher Education Act, 2023, otherwise known as students loan Act, establishes an Education Loan Fund to help Nigerians fund their higher education, while they pay in installments two years after completing their participation in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.
Education Loan Fund
The Act establishes the Nigerian Education Loan Fund which is expected to handle all loan requests, grants, disbursement and recuperation of the loans provided.
The Fund, according to the Act, is to be funded from multiple streams and will engage in other productive activities.
Its sources of funding as dictated by the Act include; one per cent of all profits accruing to the federal government from oil and other minerals; one per cent of taxes, levies and duties accruing to the federal government from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Nigerian Customs Service (NCS); education bonds and education endowment fund schemes.
The Education Loan will also be funded through donations, gifts, grants, endowment and revenue accruing to the fund from any other source.
Management, administration of the fund
The fund is to be domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and managed by an 11-person special committee chaired by the CBN governor, the law stipulates in Section 5.
The special committee consists of the CBN governor as chairperson and a secretary to be appointed by the chairperson.
Members of the committee as dictated by the law includes; the ministers responsible for education and finance, or the latter’s representatives, and the Auditor-General of the Federation.
Other members are; the Chairman, National Universities Commission (NUC), a representative of the forum of university vice-chancellors, a representative of the forum of polytechnic rectors and forum of provosts of all colleges of education in the country.
Also, a representative of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), a representative of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and a representative of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), are also members.
This committee would decide the broad modalities including the process of application for the loan, who is qualified to get the loan and when they should pay back among other details.
“…the Committee shall establish regulations and guidelines for the management, administration, disbursement and recoupment of students’ loans under this Act, and all stakeholders including parents, students’ applicants, beneficiaries of the students’ loans and deposit banks shall comply with the regulations and guidelines,” Section 5(5) states.”
Section 5(2) of the Act also states that the fund “shall be domiciled with, managed and administered by the Central Bank of Nigeria through the money deposit banks in Nigeria for the purpose set out under section 6 of this Act,” (PREMIUM TIMES)
