The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has warned tertiary institutions against any acts of sabotage in the process of application and disbursement of loans to students, insisting that there must be transparency and openness, including prompt disclosure of disbursement information to beneficiary students.
Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyer, gave the warning during the third day stakeholders meeting and engagement with Heads of Colleges of Education, Agriculture, Health and Nursing, in Abuja.
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He vowed that NELFUND would not hesitate to deal with institutions that go contrary to the terms and conditions surrounding to funds paid to it on behalf of students.
He observed that while the Fund lacks the statutory power to suspend, remove or expel erring heads of institutions, any traced illegality will be reported and dealt with administratively by the Minister of Education.
Sawyerr said the Fund would not allow the initiative of President Bola Tinubu towards making education accessible to willing Nigerians to be sabotaged on the alter of selfish interest.
He said the commitment of the Fund is to pay all registration charges that will admit students into classes for lectures, tutorials, and exams amongst others.
Noting that so far, 303 institutions that we have paid on behalf of 293,000 students, Sawyer said the loan is applicable with how it has been set up and this includes JAMB, NIN, BVN and the matrix numbers, while remarking that the longevity seems to have attracted more people.
According to him, “The commitment of NELFUND is to pay all their registration charges. Our instruction is that once they have paid their institutional charges, they must have access, I repeat, they must have access to education, lectures, classes, tutorials and examination.
“We paid the whole amount, we don’t want the students to put their hands in their pockets and bring out money, and we do not want students to pay because the school told them they haven’t received any money when they already have.
“That’s going to be a serious matter and will be attended to administratively. And if anything illegal is going on, they will be death with as criminal offences if schools are asking students to pay when we already have paid.
“This is not an issue of refund. There are certain instances when we’ve made payments to schools after the students have actually paid because we started payment mid- cycle, but anybody who pays to the school after the school has received money from NELFUND is commiting a crime.
“We don’t have the power to sanction- we can’t suspend, remove or expel, but if we find anything,we have to take it to the minister and if it’s criminal in nature, we have to escalate it to the agencies that will ensure that economic crimes and practices are not being committed.
“We can’t also punish the students for refusing to pay for the next session in the name of sanctioning the school. So we are threading with caution. Institutions that are erring are the ones that will face the music, and the minister is determined that this programme by President Bola Tinubu is not be sabotaged by selfish interest.
Appreciating public outcry on real or perceived illegalities, Sawyer revealed that plans for a thorough investigation into the matter have been concluded with the separate investigative panels, including the National Orientation Agency, NELFUND and the federal Ministry of Education.
“We are already conducting our own investigation. The NOA is conducting its own investigation, and the Ministry of Education, through the Minister, is conducting a holistic investigation.”
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