The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced that it will publish the complete list of institutions that have submitted their student data in accordance with the agency’s requirements.
This announcement, made on Thursday by NELFUND’s Head of Media, Nasir Ayitogo, specifies that the list will be made public on June 24, 2024.
The publication will include both federal and state-owned institutions and aims to ensure transparency and encourage active participation in the scheme by undergraduate applicants and tertiary institutions.
“It is commendable that many federal institutions have already completed the exercise as the first wave, while state-owned institutions are currently in the process of uploading their data to the NELFUND Student Verification System (SVS),” Ayitogo stated.
For students to access the loan fund, their details must be included in the data sets submitted by their institutions to the NELFUND SVS. This inclusion will allow for automatic verification of applicants, a crucial step in validating applications and ensuring they are not disadvantaged. “Accurate and complete information from the tertiary institutions is essential for this verification process,” Ayitogo emphasised.
This development follows President Bola Tinubu’s signing of the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2024, into law on April 3. The Act, passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives, replaces the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2023, and establishes NELFUND as a corporate body tasked with managing and investing funds to provide loans to Nigerian students.
The Act empowers NELFUND to offer loans covering tuition, fees, and other related expenses to qualified Nigerian students attending approved public tertiary institutions and vocational training centers across the country. The signing ceremony was attended by key stakeholders in the education sector, including the leadership of the National Assembly and relevant ministers.
This initiative represents a significant step towards improving access to higher education and vocational training for Nigerian students, ensuring that financial constraints do not hinder their academic and professional aspirations.
