NOA Exposes Schools and Banks Sabotaging NELFUND, Alerts Anti-Corruption Agencies
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has raised concerns that some tertiary institutions in Nigeria, in collaboration with banks, are undermining the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) student loan program. The NOA’s intervention comes after NELFund accused several higher education institutions of failing to inform students when their tuition fees were paid directly by the fund.
According to Akintunde Sawyerr, the managing director of NELFund, certain institutions are withholding information about loan disbursements, leaving students unaware that their tuition had already been covered. This has led to students being asked to pay fees again, causing confusion and frustration.
Sawyerr described this practice as unethical and a direct violation of NELFund’s guidelines, warning that legal actions would be taken against institutions found guilty of such practices. He called for transparency from all institutions and urged them to collaborate with NELFund to ensure the success of the student loan scheme.
Following these revelations, the NOA, through its Deputy Director of Communications, Paul Odenyi, confirmed the issue, highlighting concerns about the transparency and accountability of the student loan scheme. In a statement, NOA’s DG, Lanre Issa-Onilu, said that the agency’s investigations corroborated the findings from NELFund.
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Issa-Onilu further explained in an interview with Arise Television that some schools had been charging students processing or “so-called” fees for accessing the loans, despite having no role in the disbursement process. He stated that many students only discovered that NELFund had paid their fees after they had already made payments themselves, a situation that created significant confusion.
He revealed that the issue had been brought to the attention of anti-corruption agencies, which are now monitoring the situation. Issa-Onilu also mentioned that students can now track the entire loan process—from application to disbursement—directly, making it more difficult for schools to manipulate or withhold information.
The NELFund student loan program, which was first announced by President Bola Tinubu in June 2023, was designed to provide interest-free loans to students. While the program was initially slated to begin in October 2023, its implementation was delayed until April 2024, when the scheme was relaunched. The loan application portal opened in May 2024 as part of a pilot phase targeting federal tertiary institutions. Despite the rollout, there have been reports of delays in loan disbursement, causing difficulties for students approaching academic deadlines. Additionally, discrepancies between the amounts disbursed and the actual tuition fees have led to confusion regarding repayment obligations.
