Over 500,000 students benefit from loan scheme – NELFUND

By Mariam Abeeb

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has revealed that over half a million students are currently on its portal benefiting from the loan scheme, with an average of 1,800 applications received daily.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NELFund, Akintunde Sawyerr gave the latest statistics, in Abuja, while welcoming participants to the Stakeholders Engagement Session & Technical Workshop on NELFUND System Automation & Loan Application Processes.

Sawyerr said the stakeholders engagement became necessary owing to need to close some observed gaps in the loan applications.

He said the aim of establishing NELFund by the Federal Government goes beyond dishing out loans to students, but to democratize opportunities for every young Nigerian who is willing to learn and grow to have real shot at education regardless of their background, location, or chosen path of study.

Butressing the idea behind the stakeholders engagement, Sawyerr said for too long, many students especially in technical institutions have faced steep financial barriers. Some drop out. Others never even apply.

“This is the gap we’re here to close. But we know we can’t do it alone. This is a shared mission. It belongs to all of us, government, institutions, and the private sector alike.

“This technical workshop marks a major step forward. We’re not only providing financing we’re building a technology driven system that makes it easier for students to apply, for institutions to verify, and for funds to be disbursed with speed, fairness, and accountability”.

Speaking on some of the perceived challenges and how they hope to close the gaps, the NELFund Boss said, “You know, when you launch a project of this magnitude, what you do is to do all the preparation you can, then you launch it into the marketplace, if I can use that expression, and then you see the reaction, the level of engagement, the issues, and then you make a plan as to how you’re going to make it better.

“So we’re doing this now because, yes, we want to improve what we have already, but we’re going to do this every so often so that, you know, as we discover new things, new technology, new opportunities, new challenges, new problems, we can address everything in one go”.