Follow Us on Google
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) has addressed the fears of some students that participating in the student loan scheme might hinder their chances of travelling abroad for better opportunities after graduation.
It assured students that beneficiaries of the student loan scheme will not be restricted from travelling abroad after completing their studies.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, made this clarification during a sensitisation programme at Edo University, Iyamho, on Wednesday, 12 March 2025, while responding to students’ concerns about potential travel limitations.
He said, ‘The law that set up NELFund does not limit your ability to go and look for work wherever you want. You are not tied. It doesn’t say you cannot leave Nigeria because you have a loan with us. You can go wherever you want to go in the world. It is not possible for you to say that I can’t travel around the world.
‘However, I think the right and proper thing to do, if you have a loan in Nigeria and you want to get a job somewhere else, is to pay the loan back to your country,’ Sawyerr explained.
He encouraged students to take advantage of the loan scheme to ease the financial burden of education on their families, emphasising its unique benefits compared to other loan types.
He reassured the students that the loan repayment structure is interest-free, even if repayments stretch over a decade.
‘I want you to embrace it, and I want you to act upon it because, if you miss this opportunity, it’s one that will affect generations. You know why? Because NELFund is different from all other types of loans. It is the only loan you can take to acquire something that can never be taken away from you,’ he said.
While expressing the Fund’s commitment to ensuring transparency in all its dealings, Sawyerr said NELFund would be fully prepared to disburse N135 billion if all the applications received so far are fully processed.
Other News
‘We have received about 520,000 registrations and about 419,000 applications. We have processed and paid 261,000 students—both upkeep and institutional fees. Our total exposure today, if we were to pay everybody who has applied, is somewhere in the region of N135 billion. But we have not processed all those people. We have the money and we are ready in case all of them get processed. We can disburse N135 billion,’ he said.
The Edo State Commissioner for Education, Dr Paddy Iyamu, pledged the state government’s commitment to ensuring students across the state fully utilise the scheme.
‘We want the students of those schools to apply so that they can benefit from this programme because it is highly laudable and it is going to be highly beneficial to them. We are going to be telling all the heads of the tertiary institutions with a constant reminder.
‘Now they have heard from the national level, so it is now left for us back home to drive home the point. And continuously we shall pass on the message to each and every student in the district so that they can apply and benefit from this programme,’ Iyamu said.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor of Edo University, Prof. Dawood Egbefo, applauded the initiative, revealing that 51 students from the university had already benefited from N61.4 million in funding during the 2023/2024 academic session.
In an earlier sensitisation visit to Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, NELFund expressed concern over low application numbers, with only 102 students applying, amounting to less than N20 million.
Lami Suwaid, Director of Loan Allocation and Distribution at NELFund, urged the university to take advantage of the new registration cycle to boost participation.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor of AAU, Prof. Sunday Olowo Samuel, represented by the Director of Academic Planning, Prof. Eunice Omoregie, reiterated the university’s commitment to driving awareness and increasing student enrolment in the scheme.
He said the programme was designed to educate and sensitise students on the various initiatives and programmes offered by NELFund. ‘The goal is to equip you with the knowledge and skills necessary to take advantage of the opportunities and make informed decisions about your future,’ Omoregie said.
