The Managing Director of the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has assured students that no eligible beneficiary of the federal education loan scheme will be denied the opportunity to sit for examinations, despite reported verification delays at some tertiary institutions. In an interview with ARISE News on March 5, 2024, Sawyerr emphasized that NELFUND is actively addressing these delays in collaboration with institutions such as the University of Benin and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).
Sawyer highlighted that student welfare is the agency’s primary concern. “If there’s anything to be stressed or worried about, it is the welfare of the youth in Nigeria. So I welcome the stress, I welcome the worry,” he stated. Concerns have arisen after reports indicated that some final-year students were barred from examinations, despite claims that their tuition fees had been paid through NELFUND.
The education loan scheme, initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, aims to eliminate financial barriers to tertiary education by providing interest-free loans with flexible repayment options. “We started the scheme to provide students with loans — interest-free loans, with very, very soft terms — to ensure that the situation we’ve had in this country for so long, where many cannot commence tertiary education or are forced to drop out because of lack of funds, is addressed,” Sawyerr explained.
While NELFUND is committed to a swift disbursement process, Sawyerr noted that government funding requires strict procedures to prevent misappropriation. “It is important that we use the processes we’ve designed and approved to ensure that we don’t have any sort of misappropriation of these funds,” he added.
Operational Challenges and Verification Delays
Sawyerr detailed the scale and complexity of the program, noting that NELFUND has disbursed funds to 265 tertiary institutions across Nigeria. “We have about 1.5 million applications being processed, and we have just under 1 million beneficiaries that we are paying every month.” He acknowledged the operational challenges posed by varying institutional calendars, stating, “Students apply when they choose to apply — we don’t enforce an application date.”
Verification delays, particularly at LAUTECH, stem from the need for institutions to confirm beneficiary lists before funds can be released. “There is a verification process which we conduct. We batch applications by institution, send them to the institutions, and we expect them to verify that list of students,” Sawyerr noted, adding that over 12,000 students from LAUTECH had to be verified.
Sawyerr pointed out that the program’s success has increased its complexity. “The more successful we are in bringing institutions and students on board, the more complex it gets. So we are in the game of catch-up,” he remarked. To alleviate immediate concerns, NELFUND has appealed to institutions to allow affected students to sit for examinations while verification and payment processes are finalized. “What we’ve been able to do is negotiate with many institutions to say, if the students applied late or verification was delayed, please allow the students to write their exams,” he said.
Communication and Growing Confidence
When questioned about potential communication failures with institutions like LAUTECH and UNIBEN, Sawyerr firmly denied any such issues. “No, absolutely none of that. As I explained earlier, there are multiple deadlines, multiple applications. It’s never going to be perfectly in sync,” he asserted. He emphasized that NELFUND maintains constant communication with institutions nationwide regarding student welfare and financial matters.
Sawyerr reported a growing confidence in the loan scheme, revealing a surge in new applications. “In the last 24 hours alone, we’ve had about 8,000 applications. We have 1.5 million plus applications in our system at the moment, and just under 1 million beneficiaries,” he stated.
Concluding the interview, Sawyerr reiterated NELFUND’s commitment to transparency and accountability. “What we are here to do is to ensure that students who have the capacity and desire to remain in school can stay until they graduate and have access to education,” he affirmed.
