NELFUND Warns Nigerian Institutions Against Fraud, Extortion Under Student Loan Scheme

• Even after payments have been disbursed for the student loan scheme, NELFUND has now discovered that some students are still being extorted
• According to its findings, the concerned institutions involved in this practice still demand fees from the students
• NELFUND MD has made public the information, urging the universities to be transparent or risk legal action

Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.

Barely a year after the student loan scheme took effect under the administration of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), it has run into issues.

The body recently announced that it had disbursed over N20 billion to students in public tertiary institutions nationwide.

Now, NELFUND has uncovered a fraudulent scheme allegedly perpetrated by some of the public tertiary institutions under the scheme.

NELFUND announced on Thursday in a statement that its findings show that some public institutions go ahead to demand institutional fees from the students despite already receiving the disbursements from the body.

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The statement noted further that these institutions start by withholding information from the beneficiary students about the disbursements, keeping them in the dark, even though payments have been made on their behalf.

According to the SUN, this has created a situation where the students, unaware that their fees have been paid courtesy of NELFUND, run around scrambling for fees to meet the institution's demands.

NELFUND to take legal action

In the statement from NELFUND, the MD, Akintunde Sawyerr stated that legal action would be taken against the institutions found to be engaged in such practices.

He said;

“This act of withholding critical financial information from students is not only unethical, but a direct violation of the principles upon which NELFund was established.”

Sawyerr noted that NELFUND is aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and has a mission to ensure that every eligible Nigerian can access higher education, irrespective of financial constraints.

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He called on the institutions to keep the processes transparent and help NELFUND deliver on its mandate.

NELFUND disburses over N20 billion to tertiary institutions

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund recently disbursed over N20 billion to 192,906 students in public tertiary institutions nationwide.

In Bayero University, Kano (BUK), over N1.3 billion was disbursed for 11,683 students. University of Maiduguri received N1.27 billion for 12,198 students, University of Jos received N941 million for 6,988 students, while Federal University Dutsin-Ma got N909 million for 8,978 students.

University of Ibadan got N746 million for 4,907 students, Federal University Dutse for N593 million for 5,451 students, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, got N578 million for 6,480 students, and the University of Lagos got N557 million for 3,685 students.

NELFUND receives over 400,000 applications

In related news, Legit.ng reported that the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) has forwarded lists of thousands of students whose loan applications have been approved to respective higher institutions.

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The applicants were encouraged to proceed with their verification process before the loans could be approved.

As the official body responsible for processing student loan applications and disbursing funds, NELFUND has sent out several assurances that there are sufficient funds to go around applicants who qualify.

Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng