The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on the Students Loan Fund and Access to Higher Education has recommended a change to the students’ loan Act to enhance financial support accessible to Nigerians pursuing tertiary education.
The chairman of the committee, Tersee Ugboh called for the amendment at a stakeholders’ meeting Tuesday in Abuja.
The Access to Higher Education Act, 2023, commonly known as the students’ loan Act, establishes an Education Loan Fund to assist Nigerians in financing their higher education. They thereafter repay the loans in installments two years after completing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program.
According to the Act, the funding sources include one percent of all federal government profits from oil and minerals, one percent of taxes and duties from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), and Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), as well as education bonds and endowment fund schemes.
Speaking during the meeting, Ugboh proposed modifying the Act to raise the funding from the current 1% to 3% of the total federal government annual revenue.
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He said, “It seems to us from this perspective that 1% of the federal government revenue as stated in the act would not be enough to cover students’ loans for a year given the hundreds of thousands of students that we have, getting admission every year and those who are currently in school, who may wish to also apply for a loan to cover for other years of their schooling.”
“I want to suggest that there is the need to increase the fund from 1% to 3%.”
He stated that the lawmakers were ready to provide genuine intervention for the speedy take-off of the scheme.
However, both Ugbor and other committee members expressed dissatisfaction with the sluggish progress of the technical committee responsible for implementing the student loan program.
The Director, Legal Services, CBN, Kofo Alada, said a supplementary budget was needed to make funds available for the take-off of the scheme.