The Federal Government’s Nigerian Student Loan Fund (NELFUND) has disbursed N86,347,458,384.00 for the upkeep allowance of students and institutional fees under the student loan scheme.
A breakdown of the figure showed that the agency has paid N38,718,120,000.00 as upkeep allowance to beneficiaries of the loan scheme.
The figures further showed that NELFUND paid N47,629,338,384.00 as institutional fees of students benefiting from the loan scheme.
Details of the disbursement were obtained from the official X handle (formerly Twitter) of NELFUND, as of yesterday.
The organisation said 449,039 students have so far benefited from the loan while 218 tertiary institutions have subscribed to the loan scheme.
According to NELFUND, 754,862 students have registered on the agency’s portal, while 750,892 have applied for the loan.
Also, the agency said it has introduced new guidelines for its upkeep allowance.
NELFUND said upkeep loan disbursement is now tied to the academic session of each institution.
The agency said this in a statement yesterday in Abuja by its Director of Strategic Communications, Mrs. Oseyemi Oluwatuyi.
The statement said: “In line with this directive, students shall only be entitled to upkeep loans for their current academic session. Upon the conclusion of an institution’s academic year, upkeep payments for that session shall automatically cease. Consequently, students who transition into a new academic year will no longer receive upkeep disbursements for the preceding session.
“Furthermore, interested loan applicants are required to apply for the loan at the beginning of every academic session to be eligible for both institutional charges and upkeep for that particular session.
“To ensure accuracy and transparency, the NELFUND loan portal is being automated to reflect this adjustment. The portal will henceforth display only the upkeep loans that have been collected by each student within the relevant session.
“Institutions are, therefore, strongly advised to upload their academic calendars and sessional information in a timely manner to guarantee that their students receive the full upkeep benefits due to them for an entire academic year.
“NELFUND remains committed to its mandate of providing accessible, transparent, and efficient loan support to Nigerian students, and counts on the cooperation of all stakeholders in the smooth implementation of this directive.”
On July 17, 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu launched the student loan scheme after signing its Bill into law on April 3, 2024.
According to the law, repayment will start two years after the completion of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.
The ambitious cardinal programme is being funded with one per cent of the total annual collectable revenue by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
It is one of the key initiatives of the Tinubu administration.
