AVAIL YOURSELVES OF THE STUDENTS’ LOAN SCHEME ~ Board Executive Secretary
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The Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Higher Education Students’ Loan Board, Dr. Michael Amaegberi, has urged indigent students of the State to utilize the loan opportunity available to actualize their educational pursuit.
Amaegberi, who made the call in his office recently during a media chat, added that the loan is open to both undergraduates, post graduates and those going for professional courses.
He hinted that the loan is collateral and Interest free, that would be serviced after the beneficiary had returned from the one year compulsory national service.
“The government thought it was necessary to provide such loan to students to access and go through their higher education and then pay back after their Youth Service. It’s actually meant for undergraduate students. We actually incorporated post graduate students as well, they are also benefitting from the scheme. We have also extended our hand of fellowship to include professional courses like ICAN, etc.
“The loan is interest free, to be paid back after beneficiary’s youth service. Beneficiaries pay less in economics terms, because the naira may have depreciated as at when payment is due since it does not attract any interest,” he explained.
The loan board executive secretary denied the allegation that obtaining is difficult and selective, instead explained that the covid-19 pandemic of last year hampered the board’s work due to fall in revenue from the federal allocation to Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the State, which most applicants misunderstood.
He said; “The criteria for obtaining the loan is simple and same for everyone. One, you must be an indigene of Bayelsa State. Two, you must have two guarantors of grade level 12 and above and any other person from your family.
“At the point of collection of the loan form, nobody ask for any particulars of proof or otherwise. Evidence or particulars of proof is only requested at the submission stage.
“It is not true that any genuine applicant is denied the loan. We painstakingly confirm all submitted documents for authentication before giving the loan to a beneficiary.”
He revealed that initially the board did direct payment on behalf of the beneficiaries but later had issues of double payments, which made the board to jettison that process and opted for paying directly to Students’accounts.
On amount being paid to beneficiaries, he said; “No limit to how much a beneficiary gets, it varies on courses offered and schools. But we pegged that of the post graduates and professional courses. Though, sometimes we have given beneficiaries beyond the peg when convinced.
“We pay the tuition fee yearly but the beneficiary has to come for renewal as to let the board know he or she still needs the loan to continue running,” he expatiated.
Amaegberi stated that the higher education loan scheme which according to him, ‘is novel in Africa’ is solely funded by Bayelsa State government, added that the board is making frantic efforts to partner with some interventionist agencies to assist in funding it to expand the scope and number of beneficiaries.
He thanked the State governor for making education a priority through the continuous funding of the board in the face of economic downturn.
