National Telescope national telescope newspaper
President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, passed the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2024, into law.
This comes after separate considerations by both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the report of the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund.
Speaking during the brief signing ceremony, Tinubu said the new law was passed to ensure that no Nigerian will miss out on quality education, not on account of poverty or lack of opportunity.
The new law, which was structured out of one of President Tinubu’s social safety net plans to reorder how wealth is distributed in the country, is aimed at emphasising his belief that education is the primary tool to effectively fight poverty.
The Student Loan (Access to Higher Education) Act 2023 was signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR on June 12, 2023, with the Act establishing the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to supervise, coordinate, administer and monitor the management of student loans in Nigeria.
The administration of the Fund was vested in a Special Committee, with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the Chairman. The Governor implements the committee’s executive decisions and appoints a Secretary to assist.
However, due to challenges identified with the Student Loan (Access to Higher Education) Act 2023, the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill 2024 was proposed to resolve the identified challenges.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, President Tinubu said: “I have just signed a bill proclaiming the student loan effectively. First of all, I must thank members of the National Assembly for their expeditious handling of this bill, considering the children of Nigeria that education is the tool to fight against poverty effectively.
“We are determined to ensure that education is given the proper attention necessary for the country, including skills development programmes. This is to ensure that no one, no matter how poor their background is, is excluded from quality education and opportunity to build their future.
“We are here because we are all educated and were helped. In the past, we have seen a lot of our children dropped out of colleges and given up the opportunity. That is no more, the standard and the control is there for you to apply, no matter who you are, as long as you are a Nigerian citizen.”
