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The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has launched a nationwide campaign targeting civil servants, military personnel, police officers and immigration officials to expand awareness of its student loan scheme and help their children and dependants overcome financial barriers to higher education.
The campaign, according to NELFUND, will cover 34 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as military, police and immigration barracks across the country.
The Director of SERVICOM at NELFUND, Olusola Fowobaje, disclosed this during a sensitisation engagement with workers of the Ministry of Regional Development in Abuja.
Fowobaje said the initiative, tagged Roadshow, was designed to take information about the Fund’s educational financing opportunities directly to government employees, parents and guardians who may not be sufficiently aware of the scheme.
He explained that civil servants and security personnel were being targeted because they could serve as important channels for communicating the benefits of the programme to their children and dependants.
According to him, the exercise would cover 34 ministries before extending to military formations, police and immigration barracks across the country.
“We have done one today, and it is tagged roadshow. We call it roadshow. It’s just another name for sensitisation. That is a door-to-door sensitisation in ministries. We are covering 34 ministries, and we would cover all the barracks, military barracks, police barracks, immigration, and what have you,” he said.
Fowobaje explained that the student loan programme has two major components: institutional fees and upkeep allowances. “While the institutional component covers approved school fees, eligible beneficiaries also receive a monthly upkeep allowance of N20,000 to support their living expenses,” he explained.
He said the initiative was particularly important in addressing financial difficulties that force some students to abandon their education or prevent qualified candidates from accessing higher institutions.
The SERVICOM director also dismissed misconceptions surrounding the scheme, assuring prospective beneficiaries that obtaining the government-backed loan would not prevent them from travelling or expose them to arrest.
He further explained that the application process was technology-driven, transparent and accessible, stressing that applicants did not require personal connections or special intervention to secure the facility.
Fowobaje added that improving access to educational financing would strengthen human capital development, increase productivity and contribute to addressing national challenges, including illiteracy and insecurity.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development, Mary Ada Ogbe, represented by the Acting Director of Community Development and Education, said the engagement was organised to provide ministry officials with comprehensive information about the loan scheme.
She explained that the meeting, organised in collaboration with NELFUND, was intended to ensure that directors and heads of units understood the programme and were equipped to disseminate the information to other employees.
According to her, the engagement represented the first phase of a broader sensitisation exercise that would subsequently be extended to other staff members.
Ogbe urged participants to seek clarification on issues relating to the scheme, expressing the ministry’s readiness to collaborate with NELFUND to promote wider awareness and participation.
She said familiarising workers with the programme would enable eligible families to access relevant information and guide their children and dependants towards available educational financing opportunities.
