Financial Assistance: Students’ NELFUND Scheme Takes Off

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced that over 60,000 students have successfully registered for the student loan scheme. Out of this number, 30,000 applicants have successfully applied for the facility.

According to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the fund, Akintunde Sawyerr, the portal will be opened for students of state-owned tertiary institutions from June 25, 2024. This announcement was made at a Post-Application Launch press conference in Abuja.

Sawyerr revealed that the site has recorded over 9.5 million visitors since its launch a week ago. He also stated that 90 percent of the 126 Federal Government-owned institutions have successfully uploaded data of their students.

Recall that the fund had earlier announced that 1.2 million students from Federal Government-owned universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and technical colleges were expected to benefit from the first phase of the scheme.

Addressing journalists, Sawyerr said, “Since the launch of our student loan application portal last Friday for students in Federal institutions of higher learning, we have witnessed an extraordinary surge in applications, with over 60,000 submissions since inception.

The overwhelming response serves as a testament to the critical need for financial assistance among our student population, and we remain committed to addressing this urgent demand.”

He added, “To ensure efficient application processing, we are pleased to report that over 90 percent of federal institutions of higher learning have submitted their students’ data to NELFUND. However, we urge the remaining two federal universities and five federal polytechnics to expedite the process to ensure that all eligible students can access our financial support.”

In line with the fund’s commitment to democratizing higher education, Sawyerr announced that NELFUND will commence accepting applications from students attending state-owned tertiary institutions in three weeks. “We request all state institutions to submit their students’ data immediately, as requested, to facilitate a smooth and seamless application process,” he said.

Finally, the agency announced that it will launch a comprehensive skills acquisition program for youths with practical, market-relevant skills in the next six months.