The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) says it has disbursed N322 billion loan to students since inception of the scheme.
This was disclosed by the Managing Director/CEO of the fund, Akintunde Sawwyer.
He was speaking in Uyo during the National Sensitisation Programme on the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) for the South-South.
He said said so far, 319 tertiary institutions in the country and 1.6 million students have benefited from the loan.
Sawyer, who was represented by the Director, Human Resources, Dr Zino Ugboma, stated that the loan was designed to eliminate financial barriers that would deprive qualified students from benefiting from the scheme.
“We have provided funds to 319 tertiary institutions in Nigeria that have benefited from NELFUND. We have 1.6 million plus beneficiaries and as of this month, N322 billion has been released from NELFUND.
“In Akwa Ibom State, since inception, we have had 24,283 applicants. Of this number, 23,473,000 have received benefits from NELFUND. This amounts to N2.1 billion that we have deposited in Akwa Ibom state alone. We have brought in N1.2 billion to this university, for the benefit of the students,” he stated.
The MD commended the 10th Senate for its commitment to deepening access to quality secondary education and for the bold step in bringing the scheme directly to the students.
In his goodwill message, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, said the government has complemented the Renewed Hope Initiative of President Bola Tinubu with the ARISE agenda, which has been used to alleviate the burden of students through the payment of fees and bursaries.
Eno, who was represented by the Commissioner for Education, Prof Ubong Umoh, said, “Under the ARISE agenda, students of Akwa Ibom State origin are given access to bursaries, and just recently, the sum of N1.3 billion was released for students to be able to have access and an increase from N20,000 to N50,000 Naira for each student as they have to pay that burden.
“And that is a commitment that the State Government has towards complementing the effort of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Moreover, furthermore to that, at the basic level of education, from the basic into the tertiary the state government has implemented the execution and building of thirty- one model primary schools and three model secondary schools and again expansion of programs in our tertiary institutions.
“For instance, from 43 programs that His Excellency came to meet, he has increased to 84 programs. And within that context, it shows that the number of students has increased tremendously and that number needs to be taken care of with various academic incentives like the loan.”
Also speaking, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Uyo, Prof. Christopher Ekong, appreciated the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions for bringing the NELFUND sensitisation programme to the institution and expressed optimism that it would be beneficial to the University and the students.
