President Ahmed Tinubu has signed the Student Loan Bill into law.
Thelagostimes had earlier reported that the president, on Monday, signed the bill which was introduced by the outgoing speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
What you need to know about the Act:
1. The Act provides an interest-free loan for indigent Nigerian students in which beneficiaries will only pay back the exact amount they collect.
2. The Act offers loans for indigent Nigerian students seeking higher education in government-owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country.
3. The Act enables all indigent Nigerian students to have equal rights to access the loan without any form of discrimination arising from gender, religion, tribe, position or disability of any kind.
4. The Act states that the loan shall be given to indigent Nigerian students only for the payment of tuition fees.
5, The Act stipulates that there shall be the establishment of a Nigerian Education Bank with the objective to provide education for all Nigerians in matters pertaining to loan.
According to the bill, students applying for loans under this Act must apply to the Chairman of the Bank through their respective institutions upon satisfying of the following conditions:
i. Student must have secured admission into any public Nigerian University, Polytechnic, college of education or any TVET school; Applicant income or family income must be less than N500,000 per annum; Applicant must provide at least two civil servants as guarantors: of not less than level 12 years in service; or a Lawyer with at least 10 years post-call experience; a Judicial officer; or a Justice of Peace.
ii. Students who have defaulted on previous loans; found guilty of exam malpractice, felony, or drug offences will not be considered.
iii. Students with parents who have defaulted in respect of previous loans will not be considered.
Following the satisfaction of the conditions listed above, applications for the loans will be submitted through the Students Affairs Office of each institution via a list of all qualified applicants from the institution accompanied by a cover letter signed by the Vice-Chancellor or Rector or the head of the institution and the Student Affairs.
On the repayment, the act states that “Any beneficiary of the loan to which this Act refers shall commence repayment two years after completion of the National Youth Service Corps programme. Repayment shall be by direct deduction of 10 per cent of the beneficiary’s salary at source by the employer.
“Where the beneficiary is self-employed, he shall remit 10 per cent of his total profit monthly to the student loan account to be prescribed by the bank.
“For the purpose of sub-section 3 above, a self-employed person shall, within 60 days of assuming that status, submit all information such as the name of business, address and location, registration documents, registered, name of bankers, names of partners, name of directors and shareholders to the Commission.
“Anyone in default of the provisions of sub-section 4 above or found to be aiding the default of any of the provisions of this Act is guilty of an offence and, if convicted, shall be liable to imprisonment for two years or a fine of N500,000 or both.”