Over 60,000 Federal Universities Students Have Applied For Loan, Says NELFUND

• Application For State-Owned Varsities To Be Opened In 3 Weeks

Over 60,000 students from federal universities in Nigeria have applied for the student loan scheme since its launch, The Matrix has gathered.

On May 24, the NELFUND portal went live.

The Managing Director of Nigeria Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.

He said so far, 90 percent of federal universities have submitted their students’ data to the NELFUND’s dashboard, adding that 10 per cent were yet to submit theirs.

He stated that the student loan scheme will take off with 1.2 million students as beneficiaries and the loan would be paid directly to their various institutions.

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“This for us has been an overwhelming response and it serves as a testament to the critical need for financial assistance amongst our student population and we remain committed to addressing this urgent demand,” he said.

Meanwhile, the managing director said in line with NELFUND’s commitment to higher education, it will “commence accepting applications from students attending state-owned tertiary institutions in three weeks’ time”.

Asked about the exact date, he said the fund aims to start receiving applications on June 25. He however added that with factors like the upload of data by institutions, the date remains tentative.

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“We request all state institutions to submit their student’s data immediately in order to facilitate a smooth and seamless application process,” he said.

Sawyerr disclosed that over 90 percent of federal institutions of higher learning have submitted their student data to the fund.