The member representing Afikpo/Edda Federal Constituency of Ebonyi State in the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Enwo Igariwey, on Tuesday, assured that South East students would not be excluded from the Federal Government's Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFund.
Igariwey, who is also a member of House of Representatives Committee on Banking Regulations, stated that he and the Leader of the South East Caucus of the National Assembly, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, have initiated moves to ensure that students of South East extraction benefit from the loan programme.
He gave the assurances at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, while conducting on-the-spot assessment of CBN funded Engineering Laboratory at the University.
"We should embrace every programme of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because South East is a very important component of this country. The students loan is for the students. If the students are expected to apply, let them apply before we start complaining that we are not benefiting from it.
"At the other end, we would make sure that when the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, is disbursing funds, it should be across board," he said.
While expressing satisfaction with the consummation of the CBN project at the University, he stressed the need to adequately equip the laboratory in order to realize the aims behind the project.
While saying that engineering is at the bedrock of sustainable development of any nation, he emphasized the deployment of science and technology in tackling myriads of challenges bedeviling the nation.
Earlier, while receiving the lawmaker and other CBN delegation on oversight of the Engineering Laboratory facility, the Vice Chancellor of ESUT, Professor Aloysius-Michaels Okolie, also expressed surprise that the South East students were not among the first beneficiaries of the NELFund despite the completion of students verification as required.
Some of the staff of the Faculty of Engineering, ESUT, including a Chief Technologist, Dr. Fidelis Inyiama, complained of lack of electricity and water in the laboratory as part of the challenges hampering progress of work in the laboratory.
