SSNIT has granted over 253 billion cedis as loans to students

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has granted over 253 billion cedis to 462,000 students in tertiary institutions since the inception of the students loan scheme programme in 1988/89 academic year. Mr Eugene Amponsah-Boakye, Central Region Public Relations Officer of the Trust, announced this at a durbar of Mfantseman District Health Workers at Saltpond.

He spoke about the poor recovery rate of the loans and urged guarantors to advise their clients to repay them in time to avoid embarrassment. The PRO said the Trust would withhold a guarantor's entitlements until his or her client settled the loan in full.

Mr Amponsah-Boakye, therefore, advised guarantors, who were about to retire to make sure that their clients settled the loans before they retired. He said a beneficiary of the loan could use his social security contributions to defray the loan.

Reacting to a question about delay in paying contributors' benefits, the PRO put the blame on employers, who did not send registration cards and those who did not pay employees' contributions to the SSNIT. He appealed to contributors to update their records from time to time to facilitate prompt payment of their benefits.