The Senate has passed the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act Repeal and Re-Enactment Bill, 2024 days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu transmitted the Bill to the Senate.
The Senate passed the bill after its consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND that considered the Bill.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Muntari Dandutse representing Katsina South presented the report during plenary.
The Senate had given the Bill accelerated hearing by suspending relevant sections of its standing rules and referred the Bill to the Committee of the Whole for consideration.
After debate on the Bill, Senate President Godswill Akpabio referred the Bill to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND for further legislative work and to report back in one week.
The Bill seeks to provide easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund established in the Act to provide education for all Nigerians. The new act has now incorporated loans to those who wish to acquire skills and vocational education instead of tertiary education.
The official roll out of the Students Loan program was temporarily put on hold to enable the necessary amendments to the act to accommodate the extra operational scope. With the passage of the act, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is expected to sign it into law to pave way for kick off of the long-awaited programme.