The Federal Government of Nigeria has directly paid the tuition fees of 20,000 students to their respective institutions under the ongoing Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) scheme. This was disclosed by Akintunde Sawyer, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NELFUND, during a summit organized by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in Rivers State on Thursday.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!According to Sawyer, the fund has covered tuition fees for students across six universities, including the University of Ibadan, University of Benin, University of Maiduguri, University of Ilorin, and Bayero University, Kano. This student loan scheme is a flagship project of President Bola Tinubu in the education sector. It was introduced following the signing of the Access to Higher Education Act, which provides a legal framework for granting loans to low-income Nigerians to help pay their fees in tertiary institutions.
Sawyer further revealed that, as of August 22, 2024, over 280,000 students have registered for the scheme, with around 256,000 having completed the application process. He attributed some delays in approving loan requests to errors made by students during registration, such as submitting incorrect documents or false information, which prolongs the verification process. Sawyer emphasized that the agency is committed to ensuring that only eligible students benefit from the scheme.
The summit, organized by the NANS National Secretariat in collaboration with NELFUND, aimed to educate students about the loan scheme and gather feedback from them. It was attended by representatives of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, the Commissioner for Youth Development in Rivers State, Chisom Gbali, NANS President Lucky Omonefe, Akintunde Sawyer, Vice Chancellors, students, and Traditional Rulers.
During the event, the representative of Governor Fubara and the Traditional Ruler, HRM Nwachukwu Nnam-Obi III, the Oba of Ogbaland, Rivers State, who was honored by NANS as the Royal Father of Nigerian Students, encouraged students to take advantage of the loan scheme to excel in their studies. NANS reaffirmed its commitment to ongoing sensitization efforts across higher institutions in Rivers State to encourage more students to benefit from the scheme.
Earlier this month, NELFUND announced that it had approved 22 additional state-owned tertiary institutions for the student loan scheme, bringing the total number of approved state institutions to 108. Some of the newly approved institutions include Abia State University, Delta State University, Kwara State University, and Rivers State University, among others.
