- To by funded by education tax collected by FIRS – Adedeji
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Executive Secretary of the Student Loan Board, Akintunde Sawyerr, has revealed that a fully automated application process will be employed by the new education loan fund.
He made the disclosure to State House Correspondents on Monday alongside the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zaccheus Adedeji, after briefing President Bola Tinubu about the scheme at the Presidential Villa.
This is coming after complaints about the delay in kicking off the scheme in January as promised. The Student loan initiative is aimed at eliminating financial barriers that hinder the pursuit of tertiary education in the country.
Sawyerr, who did to not give out the specific date of the commencement of the scheme, how ever said it would be launched soon, with zero human intervention in the application process, adding that the fund emphasises inclusivity, ensuring direct tuition transfers to institutions.
Sawyerr explained that applicants will be prompted to submit information such as their Joint Admission and Matriculation (JAMB) number, National Identity Number (NIN), and Bank Verification Number (BVN) through an online portal without any human intervention.
He said “what I want to say to you is that this has been done with a lot of thoughts. So in application and in applying for this loan, there is zero human intervention. In other words, there is an app.
“The applicant will go on to a portal, they will engage with that app. They will have to put in certain pieces of information which made them eligible, what is their JAMB number, and of course the tie in to that their date of birth.
“Further pieces of information include things like their national identity number (NIN), which confirms that they’re Nigerians, this loan scheme is being paid for by Nigerian tax payers.
“So it’s for Nigerians and the NIN helps verify and qualify them as such. Their BVN, financial inclusion because this scheme in itself will at some point, be able to empower students so we need to know they have bank accounts. We need to know where their accounts are to be able to access those accounts.
“It will also have their matric number, admission number so that we can firmly establishment which institution they are going because one of the key elements of this is that once we’ve received applications and those applications are approved, the fees or the tuition requirements in terms of financials will be transferred directly to the institution.
“That in itself has benefits for the institution. Many many students are struggling to pay their fees, their parents are struggling to pay their fees.
“There’s a very high dropout rate. So it’s one thing to get into the tertiary institution. It’s another thing to stay there for four years or for three years. This scheme seeks to help people access and remain until they qualify or graduate.”
According to him, the loan scheme will help bridge the gap between the desire to pursue higher education and the capacity to finance it.
Sawyerr added that the scheme will prioritise supporting the neediest applicants in the first instance, noting that education is a right for all Nigerians that the fund aims to make accessible.
On his part, Adedeji stressed that the education tax remittances over the years from corporate organisations would be deployed to the fund so that indigent students can get some relief in pursuit of their academic ambitions.
He added that the loan fund fulfils President Tinubu’s promise to make education accessible to all Nigerians.
He added that it will be funded through education tax collected by FIRS.
“This is in fulfilment of Mr President’s promise that we will make education accessible to all. And while I have to put my own is because of the source of funding.
“This is one of the scheme that will be apply education tax that we will collect. So, this is a way of being accountable to the taxpayer. Because the essence of education tax is to consolidate and restore education integrity and quality.
“And in fulfilling that part of the Act, so, that is why education tax fund is one of the sources of funding by God’s grace that we’ll use actually to execute this laudable programme,” he added.