Akintunde Sawyerr, managing director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), says students in federal tertiary institutions would first be considered in the rollout of the scheme.
On April 3, President Bola Tinubu signed the student loan re-enactment bill into law, months after the first enactment was criticised for its stringent requirements.
The student loan portal has been scheduled to be operational on May 24.
Speaking in Abuja on Monday at a press conference, Sawyerr, said students of federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education whose data has been uploaded by their institutions can begin to apply on May 24.
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“This student loan scheme is available to students who are in government institutions at the tertiary level,” he said.
“It’s generally for those who are attending or have placements at universities, polytechnics, technical colleges, and colleges of education that belong to the government.
“To begin with, we’re going to start with federal institutions because it’s a programme that we have to roll out in phases.
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“It will eventually be rolled out to state-owned institutions, and as you will discover, we will also begin a programme on loan provision for those who want to acquire vocational skills of vocational qualifications.”
Sawyerr noted that the fees being paid through the loan would be sent directly to the institution and not the student.
He added that it would be paid per session and not all at once.
“We’ll pay a session at a time because people drop out of institutions, they change institutions, and they change their minds about the courses they want to do. So we will limit our risk by just paying for that one session,” he said.
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“We will also make a monthly payment to the individual who’s studying because there’s a recognition that just paying the fee alone may not be sufficient.
“That figure for this will be capped, and we will look very closely at each application and then make a decision based on a number of factors.”
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