President Bola Tinubu, has confirmed that the Student Loan Scheme, which he had approved on June 12, 2023, will officially commence in January 2024.
Tinubu stated this during the 29th session of the annual Nigeria Economic Summit held at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
During his address at the event, President Tinubu also assured that the recurring issue of industrial action by academic staff unions of tertiary institutions would be resolved with the implementation of this new initiative.
“By January 2024, the new Student Loan Programme must commence. To the future of our children and students, we’re saying no more strikes,” President Tinubu declared.
The President went on to detail his administration’s comprehensive plans to stabilize the economy, highlighting the critical role of collaboration among all stakeholders, especially the private sector.
He stressed the urgent need for a sustainable credit scheme to facilitate an effective anti-corruption campaign.
“There must be a consumer credit scheme that will come into effect as soon as possible. I thank my team and my colleagues for developing this program. We cannot talk about anti-corruption when you have to look for cash to buy a car or when there’s no mortgage for homeownership,” President Tinubu emphasized.
President Tinubu’s announcement follows his recent approval of a partial waiver of the “No Work, No Pay” Order, which had been instituted against striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
This decision came in the wake of an eight-month strike initiated on February 14, 2022, which was only resolved on October 17, 2022.
The waiver permits previously striking ASUU members to receive four months of withheld salary accruals out of the eight months of salary affected by the industrial action.
