• Selected applicants to get upkeep stipends

The Student Loan Scheme of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration is finally set to take off with about 1.2 million beneficiaries.

The process of participating in the programme, whose enabling law was signed by President Tinubu on April 3, will commence “anytime soon”, according to Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND’s) Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO), Mr. Akintunde Sawyer.

The ambitious cardinal programme will be funded with one per cent of the total annual collectable revenue by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

This year, the revenue target given to the FIRS is N19.4 trillion.

Should the agency meet this projection, N194 billion will be available as a loan to the beneficiary students.

Repayment, according to the law, will commence two years after the completion of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC).

According to the NELFUND CEO, all is set for the commencement of registration and application by tertiary institution students.

He said: “We don’t expect to have more than 1.2 million students in the first instance.

“As time goes on, there will probably be expansion.

“For the successful applicants, we will be paying their fees – the full amount – directly to the institutions.

“There will also be a stipend paid to the individuals.

“At a regular interval, the beneficiaries will receive an amount of money for their upkeep so that they can do the basic things – feeding, photocopying handouts and data.

“They can use the stipend to ensure that there is enough opportunity for them to survive the experience of being students.

“We all know that students’ survival is on another level.”

On the condition to be met by potential beneficiaries, he said they would be required to provide their Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) numbers, National Identification Number (NIN), and Bank Verification Number (BVN), among other details before they can apply for the loan.

He explained that those who are already students and seek to take the loan would need to, in addition to these conditions, provide their matriculation details.

He restated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s pledge to ensure that as many students as are interested benefit from the scheme.

“Without a doubt, President Tinubu intends to ensure that as many Nigerians as possible get this opportunity.

“That is why he has vigorously pursued this opportunity on behalf of students.

“That is why all of us must join hands to ensure that capacity expansion can happen.

“This is not going to be an elitist programme. It is a programme that is going to drag as many people into the education net as possible.

“That is what the President intends and that is what we are going to do,” he said.

President Tinubu has repeatedly said he intends to ensure that no Nigerian student drops out of tertiary institutions for lack of funds.

The President, while signing the Bill into law, thanked the National Assembly for expeditiously passing it.

The Senate and the House of Representatives passed the bill after only three legislative days.

The implementation of the student loan scheme is likely to be launched within the next three weeks. 

This was indicated by the Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria, Femi Gbajabiamila who expressed the administration’s commitment to ensuring its successful implementation.

He made these remarks during his reception of a delegation from the National Association of Nigerian Students, led by its President, Lucky Emonefe, at the State House, Abuja.

Gbajabiamila urged Nigerian students to voice their support for the Student Loan Funds policy, emphasizing that it aims to ensure access to quality education for all Nigerian students, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

What he said:

He emphasized the president’s determination to see it through, urging Nigerian students to rally behind the initiative to ensure that no deserving, financially challenged student is overlooked in accessing the loan.

According to him,

• “Mr. President is absolutely determined that we see it through successfully.
• “We are hoping it will be launched in the next two to three weeks, we are trying to dot the I(s) and the T(s) before it is launched to ensure we have policies that cannot be implemented.
• “Now we are going to need you in the success of this policy because generally, it is a well-received policy .
• “It is to make sure people are not deprived of their education just because of circumstances of their birth that itself is unconstitutional.
• “So when voices speak up against it we expect you to rise for support, this is something that you all support, embrace and work towards its success.”

The Chief of Staff reassured the students that the government is prepared to prevent any imminent industrial action by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), affirming that ongoing efforts are being made to address the union’s concerns.

He also mentioned that President Tinubu has issued multiple directives aimed at ending strikes by academic unions in universities and higher institutions.

• “Luckily, we are……determined that the days of strike are over and left behind. We are hoping to be able to avert the strikes,” he added.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)’s star witness, TKJ (not real name), on Tuesday, stated that Prof. Cyril Ndifon, the suspended Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Calabar (UNICAL), pressurised her to trade her virginity in exchange for an admission into the institution.

TKJ, who is the ICPC’s 2nd prosecution witness (PW2), told Justice James Omotosho of a Federal High Court, Abuja, this while being led in evidence by the commission’s lawyer, Osuobeni Akponimisingha.

She narrated that she came in contact with Ndifon during her Diploma 1 Programme through some senior students who were posting condolence messages to the lecturer over the death of his mother.

The PW2 said on returning to school, Ndifon called her to inquire if she was back, which she answered in affirmative.

However, the witness further told the court that while in his office, the embattled professor held her waist while she tried to free herself from him.

The witness also told the court that the don also asked her to visit him on a public holiday, and begged her to give him “a blow job” after confirming she was on her menstrual cycle.

She said: “On a public holiday, he asked me to come to his office.

“He pulled his trousers. I told him to stop and that I was on my period (menstruation). He asked ‘won’t I give him my virginity again’?

“I said I was on my period. He put his hand inside my pad. He asked when my period would finish and asked me to sit down.

“He brought out his manhood and asked that I give him a blow job. I told him I can’t. He said I shouldn’t embarrass him.

“He put his manhood back inside his trousers and told me to leave his office.

“When I was about leaving, I begged him that I was sorry.

“That day, I was not on my period; I just had to wear the pad because of the advances he had been making at me.

“I went back to WhatsApp to apologise and told him I was sorry. He was my only hope for the admission, something I had looked for for years.”

According to the witness, after the incident, the suspended dean began pressuring her for nude videos.

She said that despite the sexual harassment protests on campus, the suspended dean requested more nude photographs from her.

TKJ also told the court that while the University panel probe was ongoing, he came to the front of her hostel in a tinted glass car.

The witness said she joined him in the car and was having a discussion when Ndifon tried to put his hand inside her trousers.

The PW2 said that after stopping him from doing that, he brought out his manhood and forcefully put it in her mouth.

She said Ndifon later transferred N3000 into her account to treat herself after requesting for the account details.

After giving her evidence, the prosecution counsel sought to tender the N3000 bank receipt sent to the witness as evidence and it was admitted as exhibit after Ndifon’s lawyer, Joe Agi, SAN, withdrew his objection.

Justice Omotosho adjourned the matter until Feb. 7 for continuation.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ndifon was, on Jan. 25, re-arraigned alongside Sunny Anyanwu as 1st and 2nd defendants on an amended four-count charge bordering on alleged sexual harassment and attempt to perverse the cause of justice.

Anyanwu, who is one of the lawyers in the defence, was joined in the amended charge filed on Jan. 22 by the ICPC on allegation that he called one of the prosecution witnesses on her mobile telephone during the pendency of the charge against Ndifon to threaten her.