NELFUND: N110bn Disbursed to Students of Public Tertiary Institutions, Says Sawyer

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The Managing Director of Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, has revealed that as of today, the fund has disbursed a total of N110 billion to students in public institutions across the country.

Sawyerr who disclosed this yesterday while speaking to journalists during an inauguration and induction of members of NELFUND Servicom in Abuja, said the figure keeps changing as they make disbursement frequently.

He explained that they have a two-pronged process and that before anyone can apply for a loan, they have to register. “We have about 417,000 students who have registered on our portal with the details we have, and about 328,000 students who have actually applied.”

“We’ve just approved a new batch, N110 billion, that is going to students in one form or another. About 60 per cent of that is going directly to their institution in full, because we pay 100 per cent of fees. 40 per cent has been disbursed in terms of their actual upkeep. The upkeep figure is slightly behind the total fee,” he said.

He said: “We estimate that amongst the constituency that we’re responsible for – people in tertiary institutions that are government owned – which are defined as universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, and the raft of students that are going to be coming in for the next session, we estimate that our commitment to date is to people somewhere in the region of N2.1 million.

“It’s an estimate, and it gets bigger than that when we start our skills programme, because there we have a lot more.

“Some of them have been processed, many of them have been looked at and most of them will get the loan. But it’s important to also mention that we are growing by about 1,000 applications a day. At the height of it, we had 9,000 applications in one day.”

“I should also mention at this stage that those who register may choose not to go ahead and apply, or may want to get more information, but at least they’re captured in the system. They know they’re in the system.

“So, that’s why you have this gap between 417,000 registrants and 328,000 applicants. We often find that the number of applicants is ahead of the number of registrants, which means that people are suddenly deciding or making up their minds to then apply after they’ve registered.”

 Speaking on the repayment plan, he said the repayment terms are very interesting and probably the best repayment terms to get on a loan anywhere, let alone in Nigeria.

“So, students who apply for this loan today get an interest-free loan. What they apply for and are given or benefit from is exactly what they will pay back. It’s interesting because they don’t pay it back immediately. What happens is that two years after National Youth Service is complete, they are then obliged to report to us their status in terms of employment,” he said.

In her remarks, the National Coordinator for SEVICOM, Nnenna Akajemeli said setting up a SEVICOM unit for NELFUND is to help the inductees to run the government business as they stand as the customer service arm of running business.

She said the inauguration of SEVICOM in NELFUND speaks volumes as to what they are prepared to do in terms of service delivery and provisions to all the citizens and stakeholders.

“As they said, they are positioning the office further to ensure that all government has set them up to do as the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, that they do it to the letter, to touch the lives of students, especially those who do not have access to funds for their higher education, increasing access to funds and education funds in higher institutions,” she said.

She said they are mandated to reach out to indigent students, Nigerians who are brilliant, who are ready to go to school but do not have access to funds.

“They have to manage this process and ensure that they bring about quality graduates, even from the work that they do in this office.