President Bola Tinubu has given the reason for the delay in the commencement of the social intervention programmes and the Student Loan programme.
The Nigerian leader said the reason for the delay of the programmes which ought to have commenced was that they are being worked on and fine-tuned.
Tinubu stated this on Monday at the flag-off of the Agric Mechanisation Revolution for Food Security in Minna, the Niger State capital.
He said: “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.”
Recall that the Federal Government had rescheduled the commencement of the student loan program to March 1, 2024, after failing to meet the February 26, 2024, kick-off date it initially fixed.
According to a presidency source, the shift in the kick-off date for the scheme was because of the process of expanding the scheme to accommodate students of vocational schools was yet to be concluded.
The new launch date is the fourth set by the authorities since the much-anticipated initiative was unveiled in the middle of last year.
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.
The Students Loan Fund (SLF) bill, which established interest-free loans for Nigerians pursuing higher education, was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu in June 2023.
