Student loan being fine-tuned   —Tinubu

The Student Loan Scheme, which was to start last September and postponed to January 2024, is yet to commence, even as the government said it is fine-tuning the process.

President Bola Tinubu says the much-awaited Student Loan Scheme and other programmes of his administration which ought to have commenced are being fined-tuned.

“The Student Loan Programme will commence. There will be employment benefits for our graduates. The social security programme for the elderly and vulnerable will commence. We are fine-tuning all of that,” the President said on Monday at the flag off of the Agric Mechanisation Revolution for Food Security in Minna, the Niger State capital.

The President had last June signed the Access to Higher Education Bill into law to allow indigent students access interest-free loans to run programmes in any Nigerian tertiary institutions.

The scheme, which was to start last September and postponed to January 2024, is yet to commence, even as the government said it is fine-tuning the process.

The loan is open to all Nigerian students in the nation’s higher institutions, with a flexible repayment plan starting from two years of earning an income after the mandatory national youth service.

However, the President declared on Monday that the scheme and others will commence as they are undergoing final touches.

The President encouraged Nigerians to make economic prosperity out of the multifaceted challenges confronting the nation. “It that time for Nigeria to face the challenge and make it an economic opportunity. We must care for people and harness our farming population, including livestock farming,” he said.

Tinubu also expressed his commitment to partner with governors to banish hunger while he urged them to pay the current minimum wage pending the upward review of the wage award.