The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MD/CEO of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND), Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr has said that about 1.2 million Nigerian students in tertiary institutions and government-recognized skill acquisition centres would be among the first batch of beneficiaries of the students’ loan.
The student loan is part of the implementation of the Access to Higher Education Act, 2023.
The Act, popularly known as the Students Loan Law seeks to provide loans for indigent Nigerian students to pay fees in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The Act establishes the NELFUND which is expected to handle all loan requests, grants, disbursement and recovery of the loans provided.
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NELFUND, according to the Act, is to be funded from multiple streams and will engage in other productive activities.
Speaking on Wednesday at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka during an interactive session with Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN), the NELFUND Boss however said the number may increase as time goes on.
According to him, the scheme is strictly for “indigent” students noting that NELFUND has put processes in place to ensure that all applicants and beneficiaries are traceable to prevent the loan from turning into a national cake of sort.
“We are using technology to run the system. The process of application is online and we are limiting human contact as much as possible.
“Once you have a Bank Verification Number, (BVN) and National Identification Number, (NIN), which are parts of the requirements, we will have access to your data and all your accounts.
This will also help us to know if you are qualified or not,” he explained.
The NELFUND boss explained further that those who are already in school can apply for the loan at any level of their study, but must be at the beginning of each session.
They would also have to provide their admission and matriculation details in addition to BVN and NIN.
NELFUND, he noted, will be funded with one per cent of the total annual collectable revenue by the FEDERAL Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS), which will amount to N194 billion if the agency meets its projection.
He explained that the loan would be paid in two segments. The first, he said, is the chargeable school fees which would be paid directly to the institutions while stipend would be paid into individual student’s account for day-to-day upkeep.
Sawyerr stated that the amount individual applicants will access will vary because of the course of study, school fees payable and geographical location of the institutions among others.
Speaking on how the loan will be paid, Sawyer said beneficiaries will start paying back the loan two years after their National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) Scheme and that is, if you have secured a job or business.
This he said depend on whether the beneficiary got a job at that time. “A beneficiary can defer repayment if he has not secured a job, but if after due diligence, he defaulted, then he becomes a criminal and we will work with every agency that can help us get the money back, that is EFCC, ICPC, among others.
Sawyerr said in the selection process, beneficiaries would be required to provide their Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) registration numbers, National Identification Number (NIN), and Bank Verification Number (BVN), among other details, before they can apply for the loan.
He added that while the application will be on a designated website, existing students who seek to take the loan would need to provide their matriculation details.
He noted that NELFUND will check the applications and decide the beneficiaries, adding that if a student isn’t selected, it is probably because the student doesn’t meet all the criteria or they have questionable records.
He said the agency will start getting data when students start applying and that they will be considered based on age, gender, and state of origin, among others.
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