The Senate has passed the Student Loans Access to Higher Education Act Repeal and Re-Enactment Bill, 2024.
This followed the Senate consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND that considered the Bill.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Muntari Dandutse, APC – Katsina South, presented the report during plenary.
The bill had last week, passed a second reading.
The Senate had given the Bill quick hearing by suspending relevant sections of its standing rules and referred the Bill to the Committee of the Whole for consideration.
After debate on the Bill, Senate President Godswill Akpabio referred the Bill to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND for further legislative work and to report back in one week.
The Bill seeks to provide easy access to higher education for indigent Nigerians through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund established in the Act to provide education for all Nigerians.
President Bola Tinubu had last week, written to the Senate and the House of Representatives, seeking the repeal of the Student Loan, Access to Higher Education Bill, and to enact a new one.
The new act will boost the implementation of the Higher Education Student Loan Scheme, by addressing challenges related to the management structure of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, applicant eligibility requirements, loan purpose, funding sources and disbursement and repayment procedures.
Tinubu’s action came after the announcement of a temporary suspension of the commencement of the student loan system. The law was put in place to allow Nigerian students in tertiary institutions to access low-interest loans to complete their studies.
A motion compelling the need to tackle the challenge of out-of-school children in Nigeria, sponsored by Sen. Adebule Oluranti representing Lagos West, was also debated.
In a lead debate, Sen Oluranti argued on the need to cause a drastic reduction of the current number of out-of-school children, pegged according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization statistics, at 20 million.
Other Senators such as Sen. Oshiomhole urged the Red Chamber, to compel the appropriate agency to publish the percentage of out-of-school children in each state, particularly to expose defaulting state governments, who through a misplacement of priorities, have continued to endanger the collective wellbeing of citizens.
In its resolution, the Senate requested the judiciary in all 36 states, to set up mobile courts for the enforcement of the Universal Basic Education Act.
It equally directed its committee on education, to engage with the Ministry of Education on the issue of out-of-school children, to reduce their number, and set a time limit of two years for the implementation of the UBE Act.
