THE NATION
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With a signal from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Student Loan Scheme, one of the cardinal programmes of the administration, commenced yesterday.
The N32 billion made available for the programme will be given as loans to successful applicants.
According to the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) – the agency running the scheme, 103,000 successful applications were received.
It said 164,000 students were registered between May 25 when the portal opened and July 17.
The President gave out dummy cheques to students and some vice-chancellors to symbolically kick-start the scheme.
The Student Loan Scheme is a novelty meant to make loans available to indigent students or those unable to pay their fees so that they do not drop out of school.
“No student will drop out of school again just because he has no means to pay the fee,” the President had declared while announcing the scheme.
Beneficiaries’ tuition will be paid directly to the institution, while only the stipend will be paid to successful applicants.
President Tinubu declared education as the biggest weapon against poverty and the most effective battle axe to fight insecurity.
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