Managing Director ,Akintinde Sawyerr,
As the federal government gets set to open the portal for the application by Nigerian students for just initiated Students Loan on May 24, 2024, the Nigeria Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND), has insisted that the loan will remain inaccessible to students of state and private universities in the country
NELFUND maintained it’s earlier position that the loan can only be accessed by students of federal government universities, adding that state owned institutions will not be immediate beneficiaries, as the scheme would take off with only students of federal government’s tertiary institutions.
The Managing Director of the Fund,Akintinde Sawyerr, who made the disclosure at a media conference on Monday in Abuja, also said only students whose institutions uploaded their data on the fund’s dashboard would be qualified to benefit from the loan.
Sawyerr explained further that the loan would not be paid to the beneficiaries’ account, but directly to the schools where the beneficiary students are studying.
He, however,said certain stipends would be paid directly to beneficiaries on monthly basis to assist them buy other things that can make them comfortable while pursuing their education.
He said the fund would soon establish a vocational skills acquisition programme for students as part of its mandate.
“We will soon begin a programme for non provision for those who want to acquire vocational skills or vocational qualifications . But the first beneciaries of this loan are students of federal institutions, at all levels. It will be for students of all government institutions going forward,” he said.
He explained that the loanees are expected to repay the loans two years after they secured jobs, either in government private or self- employed.
Sawyerr said the fund would work with security agencies to ensure that students don’t abuse the programme, hinting that those with criminal intentions would be fished out by the security agencies.
