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South-East Govs, Lawmakers Act To Include Region In Student Loan Scheme

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3 months ago

Aug 27, 2024.

Former lawmaker Hon. Lanre Laoshe repaid his N1,200 student loan from 1976-1979 with N3.2 million, 45 years after graduation.

Governors from the South-East and lawmakers representing the region in the National Assembly have intervened to ensure that students from the area benefit from the Federal Government’s student loan scheme.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, made this announcement in a statement on Monday.

He assured South-East students that the issues causing their exclusion from the program would be resolved, and they would soon be included.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the intervention followed concerns raised by the South-East caucus in the National Assembly after the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) released a list of eligible institutions, which showed that no South-East institutions had benefited. Institutions in the North, South-West, and South-South regions had accessed the fund, while those in the South-East were left out.

The exclusion sparked reactions on social media, prompting NELFUND to clarify that no South-East institutions had completed the necessary verification on the platform.

In his statement, Kalu revealed that his office had engaged with the relevant authorities and expressed optimism that the issue would be resolved soon.

He identified low student registration and errors in completing forms, such as missing Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) results, as the primary reasons for the South-East’s exclusion.

He noted that affected institutions in the South-East had since taken steps to address the issues.

“The governors of the region are also actively involved in increasing the number of participating students, and members of the National Assembly have been encouraged to reach out to their constituents for immediate compliance,” he said.

To raise awareness, he said his office had initiated several measures, including the production of jingles in English, Igbo, and Pidgin English, which would be aired on various radio stations across the region.

He said Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, had 2,543 eligible students, but none could apply due to missing JAMB numbers.

For Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, only 406 applications were submitted out of the 21,342 students.

In Abia State University, Uturu, there was no application from the 17,928 eligible students, while for the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with 40,769 eligible students, only 781 had applied.

In the University of Medical and Applied Sciences, Enugu, with 610 eligible students, only 34 applications were made while at the Federal Polytechnic, Ohodo, none of the nine eligible students applied.

Only 11 applications were received from the Federal College of Education, Eha-Amufu, out of 2,491 eligible students; Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, had 930 applications from 19,221 eligible students, while Ebonyi State University with 15,622 eligible students had 331 applications.

There were 28 applications from David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, out of 831 eligible students, Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana had 188 applications from 4,774 eligible students, while none of the 128 eligible students of the Federal College of Education, Isu, had applied.

In Imo State, there were 1,114 applications from the 27,371 eligible students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri; 14 applications from the 736 eligible students of the Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Umuagwo, while only 11 applied out of 1,109 eligible students of Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri, among others.

South-East Govs Lawmakers Student Loan Scheme

There were 253 applications from 39,334 eligible students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; none applied from the 1,577 eligible students of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, while there were only 44 applications from the 2,778 eligible students of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze.

Kalu urged the institutions to encourage their students to apply for the loan and called on stakeholders to set up registration points in their communities to increase participation.