Barely 48 hours before its official launch, the Federal Government has postponed the launch of the Nigerian Students Loan Scheme indefinitely.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, disclosed this known during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday.
According to Sawyer, the loan scheme was postponed due to some corrections that were being made around the launch.
“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to commit to a specific date. We are sort of waiting to ensure that all the stakeholders are aligned to make sure that nobody is blindsided, then we can actually roll this out in a meaningful, comprehensive, wholesome and sustainable way,” he said.
The proposed bill sponsored by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, was supposed to start between September and October 2023, after President Bola Tinubu, signed it into law in June 2023.
The Students Loan Fund would give interest-free loans to Nigerians for higher education.
Tinubu, had said the programme would begin in January 2024, after missing the October deadline.
In January, Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, said at a meeting that preparations for the program were finished. This included making the Student Loan Scheme website and planning how to start the programme.
Also, Tinubu told leaders of the National Association of Nigerian Students that the programme would start once they added more features, like vocational studies.
