Nigerians were on Monday, June 12, 2023, treated to an exciting news, as President Bola Tinubu signed the Students Loan Bill into law.
Amongst other things, BizWatch Nigeria understands that the Students Loan Bill will enable indigent students to access federal government loans to fund their educational pursuits or career.
How Nigeria’s Students Loan Bill will help Nigerians
1. The Act provides an interest-free loan for indigent Nigerian students in which beneficiaries will only pay back the exact amount they collect.
2. The Act offers loans for indigent Nigerian students seeking higher education in government-owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country.
3. The Act enables all indigent Nigerian students to have equal rights to access the loan without any form of discrimination arising from gender, religion, tribe, position or disability of any kind.
4. The Act states that the loan shall be given to indigent Nigerian students only for the payment of tuition fees.
5, The Act stipulates that there shall be the establishment of a Nigerian Education Bank with the objective to provide education for all Nigerians in matters pertaining to loans:
Requirements for the Students Loan
1. The student applicants applying for loans under the Act shall apply to the Chairman of the Bank through their respective institutions upon satisfaction of the following conditions.
2. The student applicants must have secured admission into any of the Nigerian universities, polytechnics, colleges of education or any vocational school established by the Federal Government or the government of any Stale of the Federation.
3. The student applicants’ income or family income must be less than N500,000 (five hundred thousand naira) per annum.
4. The student applicants must provide at least two guarantors: each of the guarantors must be a civil servant of not less than level 12 in the service; or a lawyer with at least 10 (ten) years post-call experience; a Judicial officer; or a Justice Peace.
It is widely known that education is pivotal to the economic growth and development of any nation, and this Act will be one of the mechanisms to overhaul the educational system in Nigeria.
