President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced that the student loan programme would commence full operation in January 2024.
He made the announcement on Monday at the 29th Economic Summit organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in Abuja.
The president signed into law the Student Loan Bill in June as part of a promise he made during his campaign. The bill provides interest-free loans to indigent Nigerian students.
Tinubu assured Nigerians that government-owned tertiary institutions would no longer go on strike. He admitted that Nigerians felt the short-term negative impact of his reforms but promised that everyone would soon enjoy the benefits.
The NESG chairman, Niyi Yusuf, said that with more than 133 million multidimensionally poor Nigerians, there were potentially more risks of stagnation and distress if a low-growth and low-investment era persisted.
“The future of the Nigerian child is at stake across every geopolitical zone. The Nigerian ageing population is also at risk; there is a high prospect that a retiree’s savings and investments will be eroded entirely just a few years into the first or second decade of retirement.
“Our high fertility rate, which is driving a much higher population growth than economic growth, poses a risk of an unproductive population bulge, with an unmanageable social infrastructure cost and burden for supporting our children’s health, nutrition and education.”
