The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced that over 60,000 students from various federal institutions have completed the registration process, with 30,000 applications successfully submitted for student loans.
This was disclosed by Akintunde Sawyerr, the Executive Secretary of NELFUND, during a post-application launch press conference on Thursday in Abuja.
Sawyerr revealed plans to begin accepting applications from state institutions within three weeks.
He urged state institutions to start collating and submitting their students’ data promptly.
Notably, over 90 percent of federal institutions have already provided the required data, with only two federal universities and five polytechnics yet to comply.
“We’ve had an overwhelming response to the student loan portal since its launch last Friday for students in federal institutions of higher learning. Over 60,000 applications have been received, reflecting the critical need for financial assistance among our student population,” Sawyerr stated.
“We request all state institutions to submit their students’ data immediately to facilitate a smooth and seamless application process,” he added.
Sawyerr also disclosed plans to launch a comprehensive skills acquisition programme in six months.
“Recognising the importance of equipping our youth with practical, market-relevant skills, we will launch a skills acquisition program providing training in various vocational and technical fields. This programme aims to prepare students for the modern job market, fostering entrepreneurship and innovation among our young people,” he explained.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund was established following the signing of the Access to Higher Education Act, 2023, by President Bola Tinubu on June 12, 2023.
This law enables indigent students to access interest-free loans for their educational pursuits in any Nigerian tertiary institution.
The Act, popularly known as the Students Loan Law, also established NELFUND to handle all loan requests, grants, disbursements, and recoveries.
Despite initial plans to launch the scheme in September 2023, it faced several delays, leading to an indefinite postponement in early March 2024.
