Student Loan Scheme to be free of human intervention — FG

The federal government has announced that the upcoming Student Loan Scheme will be fully automated, eliminating the need for human intervention.

The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Students Loan Board, Akintunde Sawyerr, made this assurance during a press briefing at the State House in Abuja on Monday, January 22. Sawyerr, along with the chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, had just concluded a meeting with President Bola Tinubu.

According to him, the implementation of the student loans scheme would enable Nigerians to pick a career trajectory of their choice, rather than being forced to do something else because they were unable to acquire the requisite education due to lack of funds.

Sawyer also affirmed that the loan would help to stem the dangerous journey undertaken by Nigerian youth across the Sahel to Europe in search of a better life.

Sawyer disclosed that the school fees for successful applicants would be transferred directly to their institutions, noting that while every Nigerian was eligible to apply for the loan, only the neediest would be supported.

Also speaking during the briefing, the Chairman of FIRS, Dr Adedeji, said the Education Tax is going to be one of the funding sources of the student loans scheme.

He said the deployment of the education tax fund into the scheme is one way the government can be accountable to taxpayers in the country.