Senate approves the Student Loan Act of 2024
The Senate just adopted the Student Loans Access to Higher Education Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill of 2024.
The report submitted by Senator Mohammed Muntari, who is the Chairman of the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and represents Katsina South, was carefully reviewed before this decision was made.
Following a letter from President Bola Tinubu encouraging the Senate and the House of Representatives to repeal the current Student Loan (Access to Higher Education) measure and propose a new one, the measure successfully passed its second reading last week.
The new act intends to simplify the Higher Education Student Loan Scheme’s implementation by addressing several issues, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund’s (NELF) management structure, applicant eligibility requirements, loan purposes, funding sources, and repayment and disbursement procedures.
Following the news of a brief suspension of the student loan program, which was designed to give Nigerian students enrolled in postsecondary institutions access to low-interest loans to fund their education, Tinubu made his appeal.
A resolution introduced by Lagos West senator Adebule Oluranti centered on the pressing need to address the problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria and was discussed in connection to this legislative action.
Senator Oluranti stressed throughout the debate the critical need to drastically cut the worrisome figure of out-of-school children—20 million, according to UNESCO statistics—by a large margin.
Senator Oshiomhole, among other legislators, requested the Senate to require pertinent authorities to reveal the proportion of children who are not in school in each state. This would make it easier to identify state governments that are in default and have disregarded their duty to put education first, jeopardizing the welfare of their constituents.
The Senate addressed these worries by passing a resolution mandating that mobile courts be established by the judiciaries of all 36 states to execute the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act.
In addition, the Senate directed its education committee to work with the Ministry of Education to create plans for cutting down on the number of children who are not in school. They emphasized the need to guarantee that all Nigerian children have access to education by setting a two-year deadline for the UBE Act’s implementation.
Credit: Allschoolabs, Nairaland
