The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has ranked University of Jos UniJos) as the third highest institution in the country that has received it’s loan facility, with a disbursement of over N941million to about 7,000 students of the institution.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Fund, Akintunde Sawyerr who made this disclosure on Tuesday at a technical session with critical stakeholders in Plateau State regarding the Federal Government’s Students’ Loan scheme, urged tertiary institutions to promptly update their student information on the NELFUND portal.
According to him, the agency will soon convene a meeting with the ICT Directors of beneficiary institutions to troubleshoot and resolve technical difficulties related to loan applications, to ensure a smoother process for all applicants.
He said: “I’m delighted to tell you that the University of Jos is the third highest benefiting institution from NELFUND in this country.
“We have disbursed N941 million to UNIJOS on behalf of over 6,990 students. So it’s not a scam. Seeing is believing.”
Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang, said President Bola Tinubu’s gesture would not only democratise access to education but that disbursements would cause tangible improvements in economic activities in institutions of higher learning.
“I have had opportunity to relate with Mr. President, and I see his concern for the underprivileged and this singular act has democratized access to education.
“And not only has it democratized access to education, it has boosted the economy of any community of students.”
The Vice-Chancellor, University of Jos, Tanko Ishaya who confirmed that the university has received the student loan funds of N941million, encouraged students yet to apply to take advantage of the opportunity and submit their applications, stressing that it is not a scam.
According to him, receiving the student loan funds in bulk has greatly facilitated the university’s management and operational processes, enabling the institution to allocate resources more efficiently.
Meanwhile, NELFUND has revealed an ongoing process to ensure its site is linked to the portals of institutions to enable ease of verification.
The Executive Director, operations of the Fund, Mustapha Iyal made this known during the sensitization programme held at the University of Ilorin for higher institutions in Kwara state on Tuesday.
He said: “We observed that one of the problems we are having is the problem of verification.
“So what NELFUND is trying to do is that we want to engage the institutions directly by linking the NELFUND activities on the institutional portals so by doing that when a student is trying to do registration in school, they can select whether they want to pay via NELFUND, cash or other means.
“So if the student opts to pay with NELFUND, they will fill in the application with their details which are already on the institutional portals so they don’t have to go to the NELFUND portal. That is the kind of portal we are looking at. We want to create a synergy.”
Iyal assured students of the institution that the FUND has commenced work on the issues they have raised saying, “we are working on ways to make the whole process seamless. We have already started working on the issues. We work 24 hours and we are always there for the student.”
Representative of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on the NELFUND board, Umar Farouk, noted that the student loan initiative would further encourage indigent students to have access to higher education.
“One of the campaign promises of the President is the student loan and I am happy to say that the student loan fund is here to stay. Nigerians can now get to understand that children of nobodies can now access higher education easily. With access to student loan, everyone now has the ease to go to school.”
