The launch of the Nigerian Student Loan Scheme by the Federal Government has been indefinitely postponed. Akintunde Sawyer, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, revealed this during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday.

The initiative, aimed at providing interest-free loans for higher education to Nigerians, was set in motion when President Bola Tinubu signed a bill in June 2023.

The bill, initially proposed by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, was scheduled to commence between September and October 2023.

However, despite reassurances from Tinubu that the program would kick off in January 2024 after missing the October deadline, the launch has been postponed indefinitely.

The Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, announced in January that preparations for the program were complete, including the establishment of the Student Loan Scheme website and implementation plans. Furthermore, Tinubu informed leaders of the National Association of Nigerian Students that additional features, such as vocational studies, needed to be incorporated before the program could commence.