The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has pledged to take action against institutions that violate the terms and conditions related to student loans.
Akintunde Sawyerr, who leads the fund as its managing director, stated that although the organization does not have the authority to temporarily halt, dismiss, or oust officials from their positions due to misconduct, any detected illegal activities will be documented and addressed through administrative measures by the Minister of Education.
On Wednesday, Sawyerr addressed reporters in Abuja during an interview conducted on the third day of the stakeholders’ engagement session/workshop focused on automating the NELFUND system and streamlining loan application procedures.
As he stated, any organization withholding data regarding students’ loan payments from those who have received the loans is engaging in illegal activity.
Regarding the difficulties faced by students in obtaining loans, Sawyerr emphasized that institutional administrators should understand their responsibility to promptly disburse funds to those approved for assistance as soon as payments from NELFUND are received.
He stated that the organization has distributed resources to 303 organizations on behalf of 293,000 students.
We’ve had more than 500,000 students successfully submit their applications, though these applications may not all be approved yet.
We have approximately 570,000 individuals who have registered so far. Registration is required prior to applying. Out of these registrants, some have already submitted an application, whereas others are proceeding at a slower pace. Perhaps they wish to gain a clearer understanding first.
To directly address your query, we have made payments on behalf of 293,000 students across 303 educational institutions.
‘We operate by visiting these educational institutions ahead of time, informing both the students about their roles and the management staff about theirs. Then, we gather everyone and explain how the program functions,’ he explained.
In the meantime, the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFund) has clarified how they distributed 54 billion naira from the total of 203 billion naira allocated for distribution among students who are recipients of the student loan acara.
The NELFund Managing Director provided further information during a discussion with the House of Representatives Student Loan Committee on Wednesday.
This meeting follows accusations from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related_Offences Commission (ICPC) regarding irregularities in the distribution of loans by certain higher educational institutions.
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