NEWS
Students Loan: Institutions to Benefit in Stages
The Federal Government says beneficiaries of the Students Loan Scheme will be in stages; from federal government owned institutions to state schools, then to private schools and later to vocational skills.
Dr Akintunde Sawyer, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Education Loan Scheme (NELFund) made this known during an interview on Thursday in Abuja.
He said initially, the scheme was designed for only public schools, but President Bola Tinubu made a pronouncement that he would want it to be extended to private schools and vocational trainings.
Sawyer said that the private institutions would not be covered immediately due to their relatively high school fees.
“This is a process, so we will move from public institutions and to private overtime because we want all Nigerians to benefit.
“Funds are not limitless, so we want to look for those who really need to benefit from it first
“We are also looking closely on how we will support and encourage those in the vocational sector. We will put a process in place for that to happen,’’ he said.
Sawyer said that the scheme will receive funding from the Federal Inland Revenue Service while they were also expecting support from the Nigeria Immigration Service and Nigeria Customs Service.
He added that some revenues from sale of oil would be ceded into the funding as well as donations from the private sector, well-meaning individuals and organisations.
The Executive Secretary assured that NELFund would be fair to all in the management of the scheme and ensure that that the targeted students benefited.
“Applications will be done online. So, there is no need for us to really open offices anywhere outside of our head office, here in Abuja.
“So, we have decided that we want all applicants to be able to access this scheme, regardless of where they are, who they are and who they know.
“We want this to be a process that is fair to all,’’ he said.
Sawyerr said that the application would be strictly for Nigerians and the main targets were the indigent students.
He explained that the technology-based platform would allow students to open an account and have their own user name and password.
According to him, students would have to reapply for the loan every academic session.
“Our intention is to cover 100 per cent of their institutional fees and we are also looking at giving them upkeep money,’’ he said. (NAN)
Abia House of Assembly has denied social media report that it mandated the Deputy Governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, to issue a public apology over a misunderstanding between him and its member.The Deputy Speaker and Spokesperson, Austin Meregini, who debunked such report while addressing newsmen in Umuahia on Thursday, said the House did not reach any resolution to that effect.
He admitted that there was a misunderstanding between the deputy governor and Mr Mba Nwoko, member representing Ohafia South State Constituency, but said the matter had been taken care of Report says that there have been publications by social media of the House mandating the deputy governor to apologise to Nwoko for disrespecting the lawmaker during the recent state-wide local government elections. It was alleged that Emetu, who is from the same constituency with Nwoko, had instructed the security operatives to arrest the lawmaker for asking about the election result sheet.Condemning the report, Meregini, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Media, said that it was the imagination and figment of the mischief makers.He said that the deputy governor and the lawmaker are brothers, hence there was no need for the Assembly to pass a resolution mandating such an apology.Meregini said: “I was present at the Tuesday sitting, both at the plenary and executive session; there was no time we reached such resolution.“We do not condone any kind of misunderstanding, but as long as we co-exist, there’s bound to be misunderstanding every now and then.“When there is need, we do offer constructive criticism and constructive oversight on the activities of the government and the Executive and we expect that it will continue.”He reaffirmed the robust relationship between the Legislature and the Executive, saying that it would continue to exist for the benefit of Abia people.The deputy speaker commended the Executive on the level of implementation, while expressing satisfaction with the quality of bills passed by the Assembly.(NAN)
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has proposed the sum of N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year for submission to the National Assembly on Monday.The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu disclosed this after the Council meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu on Thursday at the Presidential Villa.
According to him, the Council pegged the price of crude oil at 75 dollar per barrel and proposed N1400 as exchange rate to a dollar with oil production put at 2. 06million barrels per day.Bagudu said that the budget proposal included new borrowings of N9.2 trillion to finance the budget deficit in 2025.The minister added that with the growth rate of 3.19 per cent as at the second quarter of 2024, the Federal Government would continue to tackle Inflation, strengthen economic resilience and provide more support for the economy.He also said that government would continue to support high employment generation sectors, improve business environment and effective implementation of youths development and social investment programmes.Bagudu also disclosed that FEC reviewed the 2024 Budget implementation and acknowledged that the review revealed promising in revenue collection and expenditure management.” Despite lacks in prorated target, the overall trajectory shows that fiscal effort are on track with key non-oil streams performing better than anticipated.Similarly, the minister said FEC approved the medium term expenditure framework and the fiscal strategy paper to be submitted to the NASS.” This is in addition to the bills that are already at the National Assembly, the Economic Stabilisation Bill and Tax Reforms Bill , which we believe we will have a very strong growth in 2025,” he said. (NAN)
Gov. Monday Okpebholo of Edo has ordered immediate freezing of all the state bank accounts until further notice.Okpebholo gave the directive in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Fred Itua, on Thursday in Benin.He warned that non-compliance by commercial banks as well as heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) would result in severe penalties.
“All bank accounts in all commercial banks are now frozen. Commercial banks must ensure strict adherence and prevent any withdrawal from government accounts until further notice,” the statement said. Okpebholo stated that necessary investigations and financial reconciliations would determine subsequent actions.He also ordered the reversal of the Ministry of Roads and Bridges to the old Ministry of Works with immediate effect.The governor cited what he called lack of completed bridges or significant road projects as a justification for changing the ministry of roads and bridges back to ministry of works.“It is ironic that despite its name, the ministry did not construct a single bridge, not even a pedestrian one,” he said.The governor directed immediate implementation and reflection of the new name across official documents and platforms. (NAN)
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