Victor EzejaFormer governor of Sokoto State, and Senator representing Sokoto South in the National Assembly, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has highlighted the advantages of the new Student Loans Access to Higher Education Act 2024 passed by the Senate on Wednesday.
The lawmakers in the Upper legislative chamber passed the Bill after consideration of the report of the senate committee on tertiary institutions and TETFUND.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Muntari, Dandutse presented the report during plenary.
Prime Business Africa recalls that President Bola Tinubu had last week, transmitted the Bill to the National Assembly for its consideration and passage.
Tinubu had secured the enactment of the Higher Education Act in June 2023 which provided for the Student Loan and was to launch the scheme in October. It was later shifted to January 2024. However, recently, the President expressed concerns that there were things that needed to be sorted out in the scheme for better implementation, and subsequently, transmitted a bill to the National Assembly for a repeal of the Act and passage of a new one.
The bill was referred to the Committee of the Whole for consideration after the Senate granted it an expedited hearing by suspending pertinent provisions of its standing rules.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio refered the bill to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND for additional legislative work after the bill was debated, with a one-week deadline for a report.
The Bill seeks to provide easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund established in the Act to provide education for all Nigerians.
Commenting on the Student Loan Bill after its passage by the Senate, Senator Tambuwal said the new legislation will address a couple of challenges related to implementation of the scheme meant to help indigent students in accessing higher education in Nigeria.
He noted that it will solve the problem associated with management structure of the loan, applicant eligibility requirements, funding sources and repayment procedure among others.
In a statement via his verified X handle, Tambuwal said: “Today at Plenary, after consideration of the report by the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), my colleagues and I passed the Student Loans Access to Higher Education) Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2024.
“I am particularly delighted because the new act will enhance the implementation of the Higher Education Student Loan Scheme by addressing challenges related to the management structure of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELF), applicant eligibility requirements, loan purpose, funding sources & disbursement and repayment procedures.”
He further stated that the Senate also debated two other “important bills that seek to amend the 2023 Appropriation Act and 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act to extend the implementation year of the Appropriation Act, 2023 from 31st March 2023 to 30th June 2024.”
He contended that “it is expedient to grant the extension of the expiration clause in view of critical projects nearing completion and to allow the continued implementation of recurrent components of the Budget.”
According to him, the extension of the expiration clause for the budget implementation amongst others measures, would “guarantee zero abandoned projects given that some of the projects were not provided for in the 2024 Budget.”
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
