Repayment Of Students Loan Begins Two Years After NYSC -FG … Explains Delay In Take-Off, Sets New Date

The Federal Government has said the recovery process from beneficiaries of the Nigeria Education Loan Scheme would commence two years after the National Youth Service Scheme.
The Executive Secretary, NELFund, Dr. Akintunde Sawyer, made this known during an interview with The Tide’s source in Abuja, yesterday.
On June 12, 2023, President Bola Tinubu signed the Access to Higher Education Act, 2023 into law, to enable indigent students to access interest-free loans for their educational pursuits in any Nigerian tertiary institution
However, Sawyer said that the reason for the two-year grace after NYSC was to afford the beneficiaries enough time to get a job and be stable before the repayment.
“The law provides that for students who go into paid employment, repayment will be two years after NYSC, but that does not mean that they cannot pay back before that time.
“However, if they don’t have a job two years after NYSC, we cannot compel them to pay. Where are they going to get the money from? So, we will help them and wait for them to be able to pay.
“There will be a register of those who have taken the loan and employers will have access to that register and see who has a loan.
“Once they see who has a loan, when they are employing the individual, they will be obliged through the payroll system to refund 10 per cent of the earnings of that individual back to the fund,’’ he said.
Sawyer said that the modalities of how the money would be rooted were still being worked out but the employer would be obliged to make those deductions for as long as that person is at work.
“If they are yet to secure employment or if they lose their jobs they are not obliged to pay.
“We are not trying to turn applicants into criminals. We are trying to help Nigerians who need better education to get it so that they can improve their lives and the country as a whole can see improvement in its social-economic development,’’ he said.
For those who might want to deliberately circumvent the process of repayment, Sawyerr said there must be a way the law will catch up with them.
He said this could be achieved whenever the defaulters need to assess loans or any facilities from commercial banks.
The NELFund secretary also called on Nigerians not to politicise the student loan scheme because of its immense advantages.
He said, “I want to implore Nigerians to support this programme however imperfect it might seem because we will not get to perfection unless we start with something.
“I want to implore Nigerians to avoid politicising an issue that is so important to assist the youths.
“I am saying this because whenever there is a policy drive or something that impacts many people, there will be some perceived losers.”
The Tide reports that the Federal Government had voted N50 billion in the 2024 budget for the implementation of its student loan scheme, as contained in the details of the 2024 budget appropriation.
The scheme was initially slated to commence between September and October 2023, but because of unforeseen circumstances, there was a revised timeline to January
President Bola Tinubu had given an assurance that the loan scheme would kick off in January.
He stated, “By January 2024, the new student loan programme must commence. To the future of our children and students, we are saying no more strikes.
“To address long-standing issues in the education sector, a more sustainable model of funding tertiary education will be implemented, including the Student Loan Scheme scheduled to become operational by January 2024.”
However, the Federal Government has stated that the Nigeria Education Loan Fund portal for eligible students would open in March.
Giving reasons for the delay in starting the scheme as earlier scheduled, the Executive Secretary, NELFund, Dr. Akintunde Sawyer, explained that the process is technically driven and necessary measures needed to be put in place for proper execution.
“The take-off date is this month (March) and the reason for the delay is that we are trying to get it right.
“This is not a political programme where we say, oh! we are just going to do it, it doesn’t matter how it works.
“This is a programme that will probably run beyond me as a human being, not even as a Secretary. This is something that we want to run adequately, so we have to get it right,’’ he said.
Sawyerr reiterated President Tinubu’s commitment to ensure that lack of finance did not constitute a reason for any student in Nigeria to halt education at a tertiary level.
He added that the scheme is designed for indigent Nigerian students in tertiary institutions and applications will be done online.
“We have decided that all applicants should be able to access this scheme regardless of where they are, who they are and who they know.
“We want this to be a process that is fair to all and we will advertise the portal widely so that applicants will be able to go to the website to fill series of forms and answer certain questions.
“Based on the data they input and their answers to the questions, the system will be able to determine appropriately, whether they are eligible to apply or not,’’ Sawyer explained.