Student Loan: NELFUND receives more applications from Northern institutions – Official

The management of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has expressed concerns over perceived scepticism by students from the Southern region of the country on the genuineness of the student loan scheme.

This is as NELFUND’s Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyerr, has revealed that data already revealed that more applicants for the loan are from the Northern region of the country, describing the development as a reflection of the scepticism in the Southern region.

Mr Sawyerr said this recently while responding to a question by a journalist during a media chat.

The application for the pilot of the loan scheme was rolled out in two phases. The first phase involves applications from students of federal government-owned tertiary institutions, while the second phase accommodates applications from students of state-owned tertiary institutions- universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and mono-technics.

Statistics

Though the management of NELFUND is yet to make available to PREMIUM TIMES the statistics of the applications received so far, this newspaper is aware that more than 100,000 students have so far applied for the loan.

However, Mr Sawyerr noted that the Fund received more applications from Northern students than their Southern counterparts.

“Institutions in the north of the country have been very proactive at supporting and helping their students and providing that data to us,” he said.

He noted more scepticism about the scheme from students in the south, adding that the scepticism would reduce as soon as the Fund commences disbursements.

Mr Sawyerr, however, noted that there’s a growing awareness and growing interest across the country.

He said: “I think the most sceptical part of the country is in the south, you know, they question everything. Is it true? Is it real? Is it a scam? And I think you know, what you witnessed today with us actually just starting this disbursement programme is to say that this is no fun. This is no fun. Right? And we’re trying to ensure that people know that this is not a trick. It’s not a game.”

He added that NELFUND has the Fund to disburse for the successful applicants.

“The scepticism that you find mainly in the southern parts begins to disappear when we start paying out in terms of the three levels of institutions,” he added.

Mr Sawyer said the universities had the most applicants, followed by the polytechnics and colleges of education.

He also explained that the applicants can choose to apply for a loan to pay their school fees in addition to an upkeep loan or simply apply for the school fees loan.

“So you can’t get a stipend unless your fees are being paid and you’re going to an institution, but you can get the fees paid and decline the loan for the stipend,” he said.

About Scheme

The implementation of the student loan scheme is President Bola Tinubu’s flagship project in the education sector.

Barely a month after his inauguration as president, Mr Tinubu signed the Access to Higher Education Act, which creates a legal framework for granting loans to indigent or low-income Nigerians to facilitate the payment of their fees in Nigerian tertiary institutions.

The law, reenacted earlier this year, created the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). NELFUND is saddled with the responsibility of handling all loan requests, grants, disbursement, and recovery.

The Fund, according to the Act, is to be funded from multiple streams and will engage in other productive activities.

It will also be funded through donations, gifts, grants, endowments, and revenue accruing to the fund from any other source, according to the Act.