The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has announced that more than 30,000 Nigerian students have been selected to benefit from the student loan scheme introduced by President Bola Tinubu.
Akpabio said this in a statement on Tuesday during his visit to the Nigeria Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja.
He said the Student Loan bill was one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed by the tenth Assembly of the country.
He stated that the bill allows underprivileged children to pursue higher education without the burden of financial constraints.
Accordingly, Akpabio said that was what made the legislature most appealing to him as the Senate President.
“One of the most important bills for the tenth Assembly was the bill sent to us by President Bola Tinubu. The Student Loan Bill enables vulnerable Nigerian students, the less privileged to obtain higher education.
“And as I speak to you now, over 30,000 Nigerian students have already been selected to benefit from that scheme.
“That is one of the bills I will say appeal to me the most,” Akpabio said.
Old-new Anthem could have prevented Banditry
Speaking further, Akpabio speculated that Nigeria might have prevented the prevalence of banditry if the country had retained its old-new national anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee.”
Recall that both the House and the Senate passed a bill to return to the old national anthem that was abolished in 1978.
President Tinubu also signed the bill in May, making the old anthem the new anthem of the country.
Reacting to the development, Akpabio said that the message of the old-new anthem could have helped prevent social malaise such as banditry and insecurity if Nigeria had not abolished it in 1978.
“The other impactful bill signed by the National Assembly is the reverting to our old national anthem.
“A lot of people are not aware that there was a panel set up and made up of Nigerians to receive input from all over the world in 1959.
“So when people are saying we’re bringing in colonial anthem, they need to look into the history of “Nigeria, we hail thee”.”
“If we had kept to that anthem, we probably would not have banditry today in Nigeria because if you take your neighbour as your brother, you will not want to kill him,” Akpabio added.
What you should know
The revised Student Loan Act 2024 was established to remove financial barriers and make education more accessible to all Nigerian students, regardless of their economic background.
The primary sources of funding for NELFUND include a percentage of taxes, levies, and duties collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Immigration Service, and Nigerian Customs Service, amounting to 1% of their total revenues
Additionally, the fund will receive contributions from the profits generated by the government’s natural resource exploitation, education bonds, endowment fund schemes, and donations from individuals and organizations.
The loans cover tuition, fees, and maintenance costs, The repayment process starts two years after the beneficiary completes the NYSC program.
