The federal government on Monday, January 22, assured that the soon-to-take-off Student Loan Scheme will be devoid of human intervention as every step of the process would be totally automated on an application, specifically designed for the purpose.
This assurance was given by the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Students Loan Board, Dr Akintunde Sawyerr, who spoke, along with the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr Zacch Adedeji, to journalists at the State House, Abuja, after a briefing meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
He explained that the government was keen to ensure that young Nigerians do not fail to acquire tertiary education just because of lack of fund to continue their studies.
According to him, the implementation of the student loans scheme would enable Nigerians to pick a career trajectory of their choice, rather than being forced to do something else because they were unable to acquire requisite education due to lack of funds.
Sawyer also affirmed that the loan would help to stem the dangerous journey undertaken by Nigerian youth across the Sahel to Europe in search of better life.
Swayerr disclosed that the school fees for successful applicants would be transferred directly to their institutions, noting that while every Nigerian was eligible to apply for the loan, only the neediest would be supported.
“What I want to say to you is that this has been done with a lot of thoughts. So in application and in applying for this loan, there is zero human intervention. In other words, there is an App. The applicant will go on to a portal, they will engage with that App. They will have to put in certain pieces of information, which made them eligible, what is their JAMB number, and of course the tie in to that their date of birth.
“Further pieces of information include things like their national identity number (NIN), which confirms that they are Nigerians, this loan scheme is being paid for by Nigerian tax payers. So it’s for Nigerians and the NIN helps verify and qualify them as such. Their BVN, financial inclusion because this scheme in itself will at some point, be able to empower students so we need to know they have bank accounts.
“We need to know where their accounts are to be able to access those accounts. It will also have their matric number, admission number so that we can firmly establishment which institution they are going because one of the key elements of this is that once we’ve received applications and those applications are approved, the fees or the tuition requirements in terms of financials will be transferred directly to the institution.
“That in itself has benefits for the institution. Many students are struggling to pay their fees, their parents are struggling to pay their fees. There’s a very high dropout rate. So it’s one thing to get into the tertiary institution. It’s another thing to stay there for four years or for three years. This scheme seeks to help people access and remain until they qualify or graduate.
“So it’s a great scheme and every Nigerian is able to apply and clearly you know the sifting is that we’re going to look into support those who are most needy in the first instance. But in any event, education across the board is something that everybody should have a right to
“This Act effectively the intention behind it is to ensure that the reason for not being able to go on and further your education at a tertiary level, is not for the lack of finance. This law seeks to bridge the gap between desire to study and capacity to go further. It seeks to bridge that gap, one that is created by lack of finance, lack of funding.
“This intervention will affect the lives of many Nigerian youth because that’s usually the bracket as well to further their education. It will impact the lives of many Nigerian families because the onus to pay for education tends to fall on parents or families”, Dr Swayerr said.
Also speaking during the briefing, the Chairman of FIRS, Dr Adedeji, said the Education Tax is going to be one of the funding sources of the student loans scheme.
He said the deployment of the education tax fund into the scheme is one way the government can be accountable to taxpayers in the country.
“This is in fulfillment of Mr President’s promise that we will make education accessible to all and while I have to put my own is because of the source of funding. This is one of the scheme that we’ll be applying the Education Tax that we will collect.
“So, this is a way of being accountable to the taxpayer because the essence of Education Tax is to consolidate and restore education integrity and quality and in fulfilling that part of the Act, so, that is why Education Tax Fund is one of the sources of funding, by God’s grace, that we’ll use actually to execute this laudable programme”, he explained.
THE NATION
