NELFUND pledges to open centralised job portal for beneficiary students

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has said that it has disbursed over N73.2 billion loans to more than 396,252 students in beneficiary tertiary institutions across the country in the first one year of operation.

Managing Director and Chief Executive of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr gave the statistics on Thursday, as part of activities marking the first year  anniversary of the Fund in Nigeria.

He put the number of loan beneficiaries across tertiary institutions in the country as at July 2025 at 396,252.

Sawyerr added that total loan applications received from eligible students across Nigeria and the FCT stood at 645,692, while disclosing that over N73.2 billion have so far been disbursed across beneficiary students.

The Fund placed the percentage of loan applications processed at 94 per cent cutting across 206 tertiary institutions across the 36 states and FCT.

Sawyerr while engaging the media in Abuja, acknowledged some constraints faced by the Fund, accusing some tertiary institution management of failing in data integrity, delays in verification processes and widespread misinformation.

He said credit must go to the President, Bola Tinubu for seeing to the effective take-off of the Students loan scheme through passage by the National Assembly.

According to him, the political will of the President to birth a Fund of this nature, at a point where some undergraduates were at the verge of dropping out of school remains noteworthy.

The MD also said the policy is aimed at democratising access to higher education and skill development through sustainable financing.

Sawyerr revealed, “Since we opened our application portal in May 2024, we have made remarkable progress that is both measurable and meaningful.

“Over 645,692 applications have been received from eligible students across Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT. Tuition and upkeep loans have been successfully disbursed to more than 396, 252 students, many of whom are first generation students in tertiary institutions.

“We have deployed a fully digital, transparent loan portal, built to global standards, to ensure seamless processing, tracking and verification.

“But let me be clear, this journey has not been without its challenges. We have encountered issues with some institutional data integrity, delays in verification processes and widespread misinformation. Yet, through it all, we have remained steadfast improving our systems, engaging directly with applicants, training institutional focal points and responding swiftly to tickets, concerns and grievances”.

Sawyerr however regretted the spate of misinformation trailing the Fund on the media space, warning that such antics may end up jeopardizing the noble ideas behind setting it up.

He enjoined Nigerians to always consult the Fund management, whenever they have grey areas they need clarification, rather than resorting to peddling falsehood.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director of NELFUND, Mr. Sawyerr, has appealed to tertiary institutions across the country to refund students who were double-charged tuition despite having benefited from the federal loan scheme.

Speaking at NELFUND’s First Hybrid Media Engagement on Thursday in Abuja, Sawyerr warned that institutional non-compliance could jeopardize both public trust and the long-term sustainability of the programme.

He explained that the scheme, launched on May 24, 2024, was fast-tracked by President Bola Tinubu to respond to a growing dropout crisis among university students, many of whom were at the verge of abandoning their education due to economic hardship.

“The president wanted us to quickly start the scheme because there was a recognition that people were dropping out, even those in 300 and 400 level. We had to move, even if it meant starting mid-session,” he said.

However, Sawyerr acknowledged that the urgency led to a misalignment with academic calendars and institutional deadlines.

He said this resulted in some students paying their fees out-of-pocket, often through desperate borrowing, only for NELFUND to later disburse funds to the same schools on their behalf.

“In such cases, these institutions are morally and professionally obligated to refund the students. Some schools have done the right thing, others have not. This has caused unnecessary distress for already vulnerable students,” he said.

The situation has drawn the attention of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies, including the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, following student petitions and media exposés.

“We have been questioned as an organization. The institutions too have been questioned. We are not shielding anyone. If they can’t refund the students directly, they should return the funds to us, and we’ll ensure the students get their money back.

“There are students out there desperately trying to start their lives, and some institutions are making it harder for them. I appeal to all schools, do the right thing. Refund these students,” he said.

The NELFUND boss emphasized the importance of protecting the integrity of the fund, warning that sensationalist reporting or misinformation could undermine efforts to attract private-sector investment — a key to the scheme’s future viability.

“This is not just about education financing — this is a national transformation project,” he said. “If you love Nigeria, you will support this program. We cannot allow false narratives to derail a scheme that has already given hope to thousands of young Nigerians.”

He pointed to the fund’s public-facing transparency dashboard as evidence of NELFUND’s commitment to accountability. “We publish our data daily — not to save face, but to assure those who want to invest that this is a clean and accountable operation.”

On skills development, the Executive Director of Operations at NELFUND, Mr. Muspaha Iyal, noted that NELFUND is working in partnership with the Ministry of Education to support implementation of the new Technical and Vocational Education and Training, TVET, initiative, which has already received nearly one million applications.

Iyal added that while the TVET programme operates on a grant basis, NELFUND will later provide loan-based support to sustain it.