By Onyeche Igwe
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund said on Wednesday it had disbursed a total of N1.17bn to 20,000 students in five of the public tertiary institutions that applied for the loan.
The Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday.
Sawyerr said NELFUND would keep increasing the number of beneficiaries based on applications
According to him, the fund is working on reviewing another 100 institutions whose applications have been received.
“I am delighted to share that following President Bola Tinubu’s directive, NELFUND has been able to disburse students’ institutional fees amounting to N1,172,388,340.00 for 20,000 students (100 per cent paid) in the institutions across the country.
“These institutions were carefully selected based on their academic calendar.
“We have approved 260,000 loans, which is both institutional fees and upkeep. It is not everyone who applied for institutional loan who requested for upkeep loan. We are collaborating with a number of agencies and institutions to ensure that this scheme works fine.
“Disbursement to other institutions will be made at the beginning of their sessions to ensure a transparent and equitable distribution of resources,’’ he said.
Sawyerr said an additional disbursement of N850m would leave NELFUND to various institutions due to receiving the loans.
“The sum of N850,000,000 will be paid out today. We are also currently reviewing the applications of over 100 institutions.”
When asked if the loans could be given to postgraduate students, Sawyerr said the mandate of the fund focuses on undergraduate students with the fewest opportunities.
“Our focus is on the undergraduate students. It is a fund that enables those who have the fewest opportunities to get an education.
“While we acknowledge that there are students who will want to pursue their postgraduate studies, for now, our target is undergraduate students,’’ he said.
