Ahead of the highly anticipated roll out of the Student loan scheme by the federal government, President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr. Jim Ovia as the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). This was made known by a State House press release signed by the Presidential Spokesperson, Chief Ajuri Ngelale.
Jim Ovia is the founder of Zenith Bank, a new generation bank that is currently one of Nigeria’s leading banks. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Louisiana.
The National Student Loan Programme is a pivotal intervention that seeks to guarantee sustainable higher education and functional skill development for all Nigerian students and youths. This programme is very important to the President, which made him direct the expansion of the scheme to accommodate funding of vocational training.
The roll out of the scheme was delayed as a result of this expansion. The Access to Higher Education Act was ammended to incorporate the new dimensions directed by the President as well as to plug noticed loopholes in the old Act.
According to the Ajuri Ngelale, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, which is the implementing institution of this student loan innovation, demands excellence and Nigerians of the finest professional ilk to guide and manage.
The President, according to the press release, “believes Mr. Ovia will bring his immense wealth of experience and professional stature to this role to advance the all-important vision of ensuring that no Nigerian student suffers a capricious end to their pursuit of higher education over a lack of funds and of ensuring that Nigerian youths, irrespective of who they are, have access to higher education and skills that will make them productive members of society and core contributors to the knowledge-based global economy of this century.”
It is expected that following the rigorous fine-tuning that has ongoing behind the scene, the student loan program will finally go live in the next few weeks.