Immediate past minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for asserting to a students loan bill sponsored by a former House of Representatives member, Femi Gbajabiamia.
The legislation bill, which is now signed into law known as “An act to provide for easy access to higher education for Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Bank,” will enable Nigerian students in higher institutions of learning have access to financial assistance.
The loan can be accessed for the purpose of paying school fees, accommodation, textbooks, research, education materials or any other purpose that’s justified by the institutions. The amount will differ from student to student and course to course.
Reacting to the development, Dare thanked President Tinubu for being a father to Nigerian youths by signing the very important bill that will allow them have access to affordable education that will help take them out of the path of poverty and give them a chance to succeed.
Writing in his Twitter page, he said: “On point, President Tinubu signs the students loan bill. Thank you for being a father to the youths. Affordable education will help take our youths out of the path of poverty and give them a chance to succeed.
“We will recall that Dare during his tenure as minister facilitated the increment of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) allowance from N19,500 to N33,000 and also facilitated the establishment of a N75 billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) where the youths can access loan from N250,000 to N3 million among others.
“He has been an advocate of a Youth Entrepreneurship Bank in Nigeria and in April this year, the African Development Bank sent a team to Nigeria for discussions hosted by the Ministry of Finance. A technical team was thereafter set up to work out the modalities.”