The National Assembly, on Wednesday, passed the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2024. This comes after separate considerations by both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the report of the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund
recalls that less than one year after President Bola Tinubu signed the Students Loan Bill into law, the legislation was returned to the National Assembly for a complete overhaul.
For eight months, President Tinubu, who campaigned on providing loans to students, struggled to implement the law with several missed deadlines.
The president faced criticism over the several missed deadlines for the implementation of the policy.
However, Mr Tinubu on Thursday forwarded a bill to the National Assembly seeking a repeal and re-enactment of the bill.
According to the president, some of the provisions of the law made it difficult to kickstart the project. He, therefore, urged lawmakers to do a complete overhaul of the legislation.
The bill seeks to address the challenges relating to the management structure of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELF), applicant eligibility requirements, loan purpose, funding sources and disbursement and repayment procedures,” the president said in a letter addressed to the National Assembly.
In this report, Journalist reviews some of the changes President Tinubu is proposing in the law.
One of the major issues the proposed amendment seeks to cure is the exclusion of some of the group of students because of the wording of the law.
The existing Act provides that the loan is for payment of tuition fees and nothing more. President Tinubu, in the letter, said such provision would prevent federal university students from accessing the loan because they don’t pay tuition.
Under the current legislation, students can only apply for loans to pay tuition fees. Federal tertiary institutions don’t charge tuition fees. However, students must pay other institutional charges.