The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) announced on Monday that it has distributed a monthly stipend of N20,000 to 20,371 students across six universities for July.
News About Nigeria reports that this initiative is part of the government’s efforts to support students from low-income backgrounds and ensure they have access to quality education.
The benefiting universities include Bayero University Kano, Federal University Dutsin-Ma, University of Ilorin, University of Benin, University of Ibadan, and University of Maiduguri.
According to Ibom Uche, Director of Finance at NELFUND, the fund plans to expand its reach to an additional 55 tertiary institutions nationwide, with payments expected to commence within the next two weeks.
This development comes on the heels of President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to allocate N50 billion from recovered proceeds of crime to the student loan cause.
Recall that this pledge was made during the president’s recent address to the nation, amidst ongoing protests.
The student loan scheme is a flagship project of the Tinubu administration, aimed at making higher education more accessible to indigent or low-income Nigerians.
The Access to Higher Education Act, signed into law by President Tinubu just a month after his inauguration, provides a legal framework for granting loans to eligible students.
The law, which was re-enacted earlier this year, established the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to oversee the implementation of the student loan scheme.
However, the initiative is expected to have a significant impact on the education sector, enabling more students from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue their academic goals without financial constraints.
