By Chesa Chesa
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday launched the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to provide loans to indigent Nigerian students in tertiary institutions, as he insisted that education would help eradicate insecurity and some other societal ills in the country.
He handed out the first cheques for tuition and upkeep to the representatives of the maiden beneficiaries of the scheme, during the launch ceremony at the State House, Abuja.
In his remarks, the President pledged provision of sufficient funds to sustain the programme and ensure more inclusiveness so that more Nigerian students are positively affected.
“What I believe is that education is the greatest weapon against poverty in any society, without education there is no vision, there is development, you cannot successfully conquer insecurity.
“Education is that light at the end of the tunnel no matter how sluggish you move it will give you the light and the hope.
“And we are investing, we don’t want to try ignorance as alternative, we want education from foundations to the topmost level and I am glad that leadership and its leadership accepted the responsibility.
“Today I am fufilling one of my greatest campaign agenda,You cannot find your way if you are not well educated, you cannot even fight terrorism and banditry.
“If we have successful inclusiveness and loans necessary for our people to get educated and invest in their own lives, we would have built a fair society and a promise that we will earn a banner without stain to our children”, Tinubu stated.
The President presented sample loan cheques to student beneficiaries from each geo-political zones for upkeep, and tuition cheques to Vice-Chancellors of Bayero University, Kano, and Federal University of Technology, Owerri.
Executive Secretary of the NELFUND, Akintonde Sawyerr, said a total of 164,000 students registered for the loan and 103,000 of them successful.
Sawyerr revealed that the sum of N32billion is currently available for disbursement to kick start the program.
He explained that students applied for two types of loan, one is educational fees which is sent directly to institutions and the other is the student application for upkeep loan, which is the loan that covers monthly stipend
“Institutions collected cheques for multiple applications and students cannot get stipend unless their fees are being picked by NELFUND”, he added.
