By Uche Amunike
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), has announced that as at February 3, 2025, it has disbursed a total of N32.8 billion for student loans, covering their school fees and general upkeep.
This disclosure was made, Monday, through a statement released by its management and shared to Newsmen.
According to the statement, out of a total of 364,042 student loan applications that have so far been received by NELFUND, approval has been given to 192,906 of them.
It stated that as at February 3, 2025, it has disbursed a total of N20 billion (N20,074,050,000) for institutional fees. It has also disbursed N12 billion (12,818,960,000) for the upkeep of 169,114 students.
They have also paid a monthly stipend of N20,000 each to beneficiaries in addition to the loans. This is aside from the school fees payments.
According to NELFUND, it was important to make these announcements in order to correct the erroneous claims that have made the rounds that they had disbursed a total of N104 billion to 600 beneficiaries.
The statement partly read: ‘The management of NELFUND under the leadership of Akintunde Sawyerr wishes to correct the inaccurate reports regarding the total amount disbursed under the Student Loan Scheme,” it said in the statement.’
‘We appreciate the unwavering support of President Bola Tinubu (GCFR) in making higher education accessible to all deserving Nigerian students. NELFUND remains committed to transparency and efficiency in managing the student loan scheme and will continue to provide accurate updates as disbursements progress.’
Shortly after President Bola Tinubu’s government took over from President Buhari,, he provided accent to the Assess to Higher Education Act (2023) to provide interest-free loans to Nigerian students in public tertiary institutions. The legal framework for the establishment of NELFUND which manages applications and disburses student loans was also provided by the law.
According to the Act, the fund is to be disbursed from multiple streams and will engage in other productive activities. It was also to be funded through donations, grants, endowments, gifts, and revenue accruing to the fund from any other source according to the Act.
After three unsuccessful attempts, NELFUND kickstarted the operation in May 2024.
Recall that NELFUND Managing Director, Akintuhde Sawyerr, while addressing newsmen, weeks back, in Lagos, explained that they do not pressurize students to repay their loans, unless they get jobs.
His words: ‘There’s no obligation on the loanees to repay the loans until two years after they have completed their NYSC. And even after two years, there’s no obligation to repay the loans unless a person has a job.’
‘Two years after NYSC, there’s a reporting requirement for us to know what the status of the individual is. If they don’t get jobs for the next 10 years, which is not the plan, then they don’t pay the NELFUND any money. Additionally, the obligation to repay is on the employer who is obliged by law to give us a proportion of the funds that they are paying as a salary to the employee.’
‘Our guidelines have determined that to be 10 percent. So, even after this two-year moratorium, it’s designed to ensure that the employer, who’s really benefiting from the intervention of Nelfund, is the one obliged to take 10 percent and repay the fund.’
