THE new leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has commended the Federal Government for including the Students Loan Scheme in the 2024 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly last week by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The sum of N50 billion was earmarked by the Federal Government for the implementation of the student loan scheme in the budget proposal.
NANS president, Comrade Lucky Emonefe, in a chat with the Nigerian Tribune, expressed hope that the loan scheme would go a long way in providing succour for the privileged students.
He vowed to strictly monitor the implementation process of the scheme he described as laudable.
Emonefe, who emerged as NANS president on Saturday, December 2, at the students’ convention held at the Old Parade Ground, Area 10 Abuja, had also made a commitment to make the voice of the students movement in the country heard.
President Tinubu had on June 12, 2023, approved the students’ loan scheme which he later affirmed that its implementation would commence in January 2024.
The president, while signing the Students’ Loan Bill into law, said the bill would enable indigent students to access loans at interest-free rates, noting this was in line with one of his campaign promises to liberalise the funding of education.
Speaking further on the loan scheme, the NANS president on Monday said that he was invited to the National Assembly to represent students for a public hearing on the 2024 Appropriation Bill, saying the students’ eyes and ears were on the implementation of the scheme.
Emonefe said: “Our eyes and ears are on the implementation process of the programme. We will set up our own oversight team to beam a searchlight on the students’ loan programme and other education policies of the government to ensure maximum benefit.”
At the convention, the NANS president pledged to introduce a reinvigorated spirit in NANS and student activism in general through the known NANS structures.
He promised to restore the lost dignity, integrity and voice of NANS through quality leadership and representation, and return stronger and united students’ activism in campuses.
He said the era where students have become docile on campuses is over, and that the new NANS executive would be on the frontline in championing whatever would bring good fortune and opportunities to students.
Emonefe debunked claims of factional leadership in NANS, insisting that he won the election which was transparently conducted under the watch of several observers and security agencies.
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