board to be financed by proceeds from education tax, says FIRS boss
The Federal Government has said that the soon-to-be-launched Nigerian Education Loan Fund would be accessed by beneficiaries without any human intervention.
This came as it stressed that one of the sources of funding the scheme would be proceeds from Education Tax to be collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
These were disclosed by the Chairman of the Education Loans Board, Akintunde Sawyerr, and the Chairman of FIRS, Zachaeus Adedeji who briefed newsmen yesterday after meeting President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa.
Sawyerr, while explaining how the scheme would be operated, said, “What I want to say to you is that this has been done with a lot of thoughts. So, in applying for this loan, there is zero human intervention.
In other words, there is an App. The applicant will go on to a portal, they will engage with that App. They will have to put in certain pieces of information that made them eligible: what is their JAMB number, and of course the tie-in to their date of birth. Further pieces of information include things like their National Identity Number (NIN) which confirms that they are Nigerians.
“This loan scheme is being paid for by Nigerian taxpayers. So it’s for Nigerians and the NIN helps verify and qualify them as such. Their BVN is financial inclusion because this scheme in itself will at some point, be able to empower students so we need to know they have bank accounts. We need to know where their accounts are to be able to access those accounts.
“It will also have their matric number, and admission number so that we can firmly establish which institution they are going to because one of the key elements of this is that once we’ve received applications and those applications are approved, the fees or the tuition requirements in terms of financials will be transferred directly to the institution. That in itself has benefits for the institution.
Many many students are struggling to pay their fees, their parents are struggling to pay their fees. There’s a very high dropout rate. So it’s one thing to get into a tertiary institution. It’s another thing to stay there for four years or for three years. This scheme seeks to help people access and remain until they qualify or graduate.”
The FIRS boss, in his comments, said “This is in fulfillment of Mr President’s promise that we will make education accessible to all. And while I have to put my own is because of the source of funding.
“This is one of the schemes that we will be applying Education Tax that we will collect. So, this is a way of being accountable to the taxpayer. Because the essence of education tax is to consolidate and restore education integrity and quality.
“And in fulfilling that part of the Act, so, that is why Education Tax Fund is one of the sources of funding by God’s grace that we’ll use actually to execute this laudable programme.”
