What Tinubu Said After Signing Student Loan Bill [Full Text]

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday signed the National Student Loan Re-enactment bill into law.

The president signed the bill into law at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja in the presence of the leadership from the National Assembly, ministers, and major education stakeholders.

The new legislation repeals the previous Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act of 2023 and re-enacts the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Bill from 2004.

The executive bill establishes the Nigerian Education Loan Fund as a corporate body tasked with receiving, managing and investing funds to provide loans to Nigerians pursuing higher education, vocational training and skills acquisition programs.

Read Tinubu’s speech at the signing of the bill:

“We have just signed the bill proclaiming the student loan effective.

“First of all, I must thank the members of the National Assembly for their expeditious handling of this bill, considering the children of Nigeria that education is the tool to fight against poverty effectively.

“We are determined to ensure education is given the proper attention necessary for the country, including skill-development programmes.

“This is to ensure that no one no matter how poor their background is, is excluded from quality education and opportunity to build their future.

“We are here because we are all educated and we are helped, in the past we’ve seen a lot of our children drop out of colleges and given up the opportunity.

“That is no more! The standard and the control is there for you to apply no matter who you are as lang as you are a Nigerian citizen.”