Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary, Andrew David Adejo, in a press briefing at Abuja on Wednesday clear the air on the controversy surrounding the Students Loan Bill signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday.
He said “Introduction of tuition fee is not arising from the act; No! Whether we like it or not, the government can no longer foot the bill for universities. That is why we are doing Private Public Partnership (PPP).”
Acknowledging that such scheme had been initiated but failed in the pass, he added, “We want the current act to learn from the mistake of the past where there were more defaulters than people that paid. In the past, it is like it is a government money come and take and go, free money but that is not going to be the case with this.”
When asked by the press if the act would introduce tuition fees in public institutions, Adejo said, “The universities already have autonomy, the autonomy they are yet to have is financial autonomy. It is when they get it that they can answer that question and the government is working towards that.”
Adejo also informed that the federal government through the ministry of Education is working on the implementation of student loans act to enable 2023/2024 academic session. recipients benefits from the loan.
He also informed that inter-ministerial committee would be inaugurated on Tuesday to fine-tune the process for students to get the loan within six weeks.
