STUDENT LOAN SCHEME TO COMMENCE JANUARY 2024, SAYS TINUBU

President Bola Tinubu says the implementation of the student loan initiative will commence in January 2024.

Tinubu, who was speaking at Abuja during the National Economic Summit 2023  on Monday, assured Nigerian students that the era of incessant strikes will be a thing of the past.

“By January 2024, the new student loan must commence. To the future of our children and students, we are saying no more strikes,” he said.

In celebration of  June 12,  President Tinubu signed into law the student loan bill, a promise he made during his campaign.

The bill, sponsored by the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, now Chief of Staff to the President, provides easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.

The funds for the programme will be domiciled in the Ministry of Education and will only be accessed by indigent students of tertiary institutions.

Monday’s move comes days after Tinubu waived the ‘no-work, no pay policy’ imposed by the previous administration on members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The varsity lecturers had embarked on an eight-month strike to press home their demands including poor funding of schools.