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Nigeria’s federal government has, in the 2023 supplemental budget, proposed the allocation of N5.5 billion for the education loan fund and N5.095 billion for the Nigeria Navy, which would be used to acquire a presidential yacht.
The 2023 supplemental appropriation details for MDA expenditures include this information.
The Nigerian Navy suggested spending N20.42 billion on recurring expenses and N42.3 billion on capital expenditures, for a total budget of around N62.8 billion, according to the paper.
The Nigerian Navy’s budget plan also includes the following items: buying vehicles, building naval bases in Lekki and Epe, supplying necessary equipment, and buying ammunition.
To pay for student loans, the federal government suggested creating an education loan fund with a N5.5 billion budget under the capital supplementation for the supplemental budget for 2023. The 2023 supplemental budget included a total of N210.5 billion in capital supplementation.
Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila sponsored the Access to Education Act, popularly known as the Student Loan Act, which was approved by the ninth NASS but signed into law by President Tinubu in June.
The bill aims to stop the ongoing labour strikes that plague the nation’s higher education institutions and offer interest-free loans to students at all of these schools.
Following early setbacks, President Bola Tinubu stated in a recent speech at the Nigeria Economic Summit that the student loan scheme “must begin in January 2024.”
Recurrent industrial strikes by staff unions, ASUU, ASUP, and other organizations have plagued Nigerian higher education institutions. The activities are primarily motivated by a lack of financing and tertiary institution autonomy.
Due to industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, about eight months of teaching were missed at Nigerian universities in 2022.
To further hammer home its demands from the government, the University staff union also went on a nine-month strike in 2020.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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