South-East Governors and lawmakers are taking action to ensure that students from the region can access the Federal Government’s student loan scheme.
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, announced on Monday that efforts are underway to include South-East students in the Federal Government’s student loan program. This comes after concerns were raised by the South-East caucus regarding the region’s exclusion following the Nigerian Education Loan Fund’s (NELFUND) release of eligible institutions for the funding scheme.
Kalu confirmed that the absence of South-East institutions in the program was an oversight, attributing the issue to low student registration and incomplete application forms. He emphasized that necessary steps are being taken to rectify these matters promptly.
In collaboration with regional governors, Kalu stated initiatives are in place to increase student participation, including the production of awareness materials in various languages that will be distributed through local radio stations.
Current enrollment statistics indicate that numerous eligible South-East students are not applying for the loans due to missing Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) results and other administrative issues. For example, Abia State Polytechnic has 2,543 eligible students but faced application challenges because of missing data.
Kalu urged educational institutions to motivate their students to participate in the loan program and called on community stakeholders to set up registration points to facilitate the process. He reassured students and residents of the South-East that essential measures are being implemented to ensure fair access to the student loan scheme.
