The Nigerian Government has said the Student Loan Scheme would be funded through the Education Tax Fund, under the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.

FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji revealed this on Monday while briefing State House Correspondents alongside the Executive Secretary of the Board, Dr Akintunde Sawyerr, at the Presidential Villa, in Abuja.

According to Adedeji, the deployment of the Education Tax Fund in the scheme is one of the ways the government can be accountable to taxpayers in the country.

In his remarks, Sawyerr also assured that the process for applying for the loan would be devoid of human intervention as every action would be undertaken on an App specifically designed for the purpose.

He explained that the government was keen to ensure that young Nigerians do not fail to acquire tertiary education just because of lack of funds to continue their studies.

According to him, the implementation of the student loan scheme would enable Nigerians to pick a career trajectory of their choice rather than being forced to do something else because they were unable to acquire requisite education due to lack of funds.

Sawyer also affirmed that the loan would help to stem the dangerous journeys undertaken by Nigerian youths across the Sahel to Europe in search of a better life.

He further disclosed that school fees for successful applicants would be transferred directly to their institutions, noting that while every Nigerian was eligible to apply for the loan, only the most needy would be supported

Sawyerr said, “It’s a pleasure to be here today to brief you on the impending launch of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, which is the bedrock that will operationalize the student loan scheme in Nigeria. It’s a great opportunity to help solve an age-old problem that has been on in this dear nation of ours for quite some time.

“There are many, many people with great capacity and with the desire to improve their education. And usually the place where that falls down is when they get into the tertiary base. At that point they really have a number of options, either to go into the world of work with qualifications that are not necessarily optimal for them or to find ways of funding that tertiary space.