THE Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), has disbursed N116 billion to cover institutional fees and upkeep allowances for students across the country.
News Point Nigeria reports that the Managing Director of the Fund, Akintunde Sawyerr, revealed this during an interview with journalists in Abuja, reiterating the federal government’s commitment to affordable and inclusive tertiary education.
Giving a breakdown, Sawyerr said the fund paid N65 billion directly to 239 government-owned institutions. including universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, on behalf of students whose loan applications were approved.
He said an additional N51 billion was disbursed as monthly upkeep allowances to the beneficiaries.
The NELFUND boss said a total of 1,067,000 loan applications were received, adding that 624,000 students have so far benefitted.
“We have 1,067,000 loan applications. We have been able to pay fees and upkeep for 624,000 students in 239 government-owned universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
“The 239 institutions in these categories have been paid by us. We have disbursed so far, N65 billion in institutional fees. We have paid out N51 billion as monthly upkeep. It is a lot of money and a lot of people have received the upkeep.
“In total, we have disbursed N116 billion of Nigeria’s government money,” he said.
According to Sawyer, the education loan scheme was one of the flagship social investment initiatives of the President Bola Tinubu administration, designed to remove financial barriers for students in tertiary institutions, so that no Nigerian is denied education due to lack of funds.
On why the fund was not paying school fees for freshers, he said that the risk of large-scale financial losses was responsible. Sawyerr explained that there was probability of unregistered or yet to matriculate students to change their minds about going to the school that offered the admission.
“If we pay fees for students that have not entered, what if they changed their minds and they don’t go to the schools anymore?
“We cannot just say because somebody has been admitted to a school, we will pay the fees before registering or matriculating,” he said.
According to him, doing so would amount to disbursing against intention, a practice he warned could be financially risky for the government.
“If we carry on like that, we could end up disbursing billions of naira, only to find out that they have dropped out, got admission to a school outside the country, gone to another school, or not doing that course again,” he said
Sawyerr listed the requirement for a matriculation number to access loan by schools was a key challenge, saying the fund was working with tertiary institutions to find a temporary solution, which may include allowing students to use their Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) registration numbers as a substitute for matriculation numbers.