The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) says it has disbursed student loans to 40 additional institutions.
The new disbursement brings the total number of institutions to 59.
News About Nigeria reports that the firm announced the development on NELFUND’s X account on Friday, 6th September 2024.
The tweet reads, ”NELFUND is pleased to announce that it has successfully disbursed Student Loans to 40 additional institutions, bringing the total disbursements to institutions to 59.
“This expansion marks a significant milestone in NELFUND’s ongoing commitment to providing access to quality education for all Nigerian students, regardless of their financial circumstances.”
Below are the new benefiting institutions.”
On July 17, Akintunde Sawyerr, the managing director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), said over 110,000 applications have been received for the student loan scheme.
He said 160,000 students had registered for the scheme, while over 110,000 had applied for the loan.
President Bola Tinubu enacted an initial version of the student loan policy in June 2023 to grant interest-free loans to students.
The scheme was to commence in October 2023 but implementation was repeatedly deferred until a re-enactment in April 2024.
NELFUND opened the loan application portal on May 24, at which time a pilot phase to serve federal tertiary institutions began.
The fund said the scheme would be open to state-owned tertiary institutions in its second rollout.
Sawyerr said the fund has witnessed a surge in applications from students in the northern region of the country.
