By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The unveiling of the much-awaited student loan scheme has been indefinitely suspended by the federal government.
The indefinite suspension of the programme was confirmed by the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund), Mr Akintunde Sawyer, during an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday.
He explained that the decision to step down at the commencement of the scheme was to cross all the t’s and cross the i‘s.
Recall that last week, Mr Sawyer, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said, “The take-off date is this month (March) and the reason for the delay is that we are trying to get it right.
“This is not a political programme where we say, oh! we are just going to do it, it doesn’t matter how it works.
“This is a programme that will probably run beyond me as a human being, not even as a Secretary. This is something that we want to run adequately, so we have to get it right.”
Later, it was announced that the scheme would be launched tomorrow, Thursday, March 14, 2024, until Mr Sawyer said this would no longer happen as earlier planned.
“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to commit to a specific date. We are sort of waiting to ensure that all the stakeholders are aligned to make sure that nobody is blindsided, then we can roll this out in a meaningful, comprehensive, wholesome and sustainable way,” he said on Tuesday.
This is not the first time the government has shifted the commencement of this programme, which is meant to provide loans to students to be paid back about two years after the conclusion of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).