EFCC donates N50bn to support student loan scheme

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has released N50bn to support the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.

This was disclosed by the anti-graft agency on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, when the Fund’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, led his management team on a courtesy visit to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja.

While Sawyerr noted that the Fund, an initiative of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, was designed to provide funding for the education of indigent students, he lamented the poor development of youths in the nation’s education sector.

The statement obtained on the EFCC’s website partly read, “He (Sawyerr) appreciated the EFCC for the N50 billion injected into NELFUND from the proceeds of crime recovered by the commission.”

“We are aware of the funds from the proceeds of crime extended to NELFUND. We are here to express our gratitude for the gesture. We also want the EFCC to exercise oversight on what we are doing,” Sawyerr said.

He added that “youths constitute the most populous, restive but neglected segment of our population. President Tinubu identified this as a major problem and put in place a major solution to address the issue.”

In his remarks, the EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, commended the president for the initiative which he described as a “policy issue against crimes.”

He also stated that the lack of parents’ educational support is a contributing factor to children’s involvement in financial crimes.

He said, “One of the main incentives for cybercrimes is the inability of parents to fund the education of their children. NELFUND is a policy issue against crimes. President Tinubu should be commended for initiating the Fund.”

The EFCC boss advised the NELFUND management team to ensure transparency in their dealings, which, according to him, would assist in the fight against corruption.

“Let your hands be clean. I repeat, let your hands be clean. The work entrusted to you is going to help the EFCC fight corruption. Let your systems and processes be transparent,” he urged.

Olukoyede tasked the NELFUND boss to give reports on the disbursement of its money to the EFCC while stressing his commitment to ensure the N50bn donation isn’t “re-looted.”

He said, “I will fight to ensure that money pooled together to support NELFUND  is not re-looted. We want your management to be giving reports of your disbursement to the EFCC.

“Don’t sign what is not clear to you. Don’t give in to any pressure. Let your staff know that there is no money to share.”

Olukoyede called on Nigerians to ensure the success of the NELFUND initiative and that of the Tinubu-led administration.

On April 3, 2024, Tinubu signed the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2024, into law.

The registration for the programme took off in May with 1.2 million students in federal tertiary institutions across the country – starting the first batch.

On Wednesday, August 7, 2024, NELFUND announced what it described as a significant milestone, receiving the highest number of student loan applications within 24 hours since the launch of its portal on May 25, 2024.

NELFUND said it “recorded 9,687 student registrations, with 7,975 completed loan applications,” on August 7, 2024.

According to data released on Friday, August 2, 2024, an additional 2,120 students had benefited from the student loan scheme bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 22,120.

A statement by NELFUND’s spokesman, Nasir Ayitogo, in Abuja said the loans disbursed across many institutions totalled N2.5bn.