•Opens job portal for early access to employment opportunities

Funmi Ogundare and Kuni Tyessi in Nigeria

Targeting efficient education financing, Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), yesterday, announced the successful disbursement of tuition and upkeep loans to over 396,000 students across the country, many of whom were first-generation entrants into higher institutions.

NELFUND also said it was developing a centralised job portal to give beneficiaries early access to employment opportunities in Nigeria and abroad.

Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed the developments yesterday during a media engagement series in Abuja to mark one year since the scheme was launched.

Sawyerr said the agency did not guarantee jobs, but it was set to play a pivotal role towards youth employment.

Sawyerr, during the agency’s 2025 media engagement held virtually, described the job initiative as a transformative step in democratising access to higher education through sustainable, interest-free financing. 

He credited the administration of President Bola Tinubu and the Renewed Hope Agenda for the political will that led to the establishment of NELFUND, describing the fund as a foundation for the future.

“Our mandate is bold but clear: to provide equitable education finance that gives every Nigerian child a fair chance, regardless of background or income,” he said.

Since the launch of the application portal in May 2024, Sawyerr stated that over 645,000 students from all 36 states and the FCT had submitted applications. 

According to him, a fully digital loan platform, built to global standards, had been deployed to streamline applications, verification, and disbursement.

In addition to supporting university students, the fund expanded its reach to include technical and vocational education, aligning with national employment and skills development objectives, Sawyerr said. 

He said rapid adaptations to address technical challenges, such as digital wallet failures, with a new migration process enabling disbursements through commercial bank accounts.

He acknowledged that the journey had not been without hurdles. Issues ranging from data integrity at institutional levels to misinformation and verification delays had posed challenges, he said.

Nonetheless, he said NELFUND remained committed to transparency, responsiveness, and continuous improvement.

“We are not just administrators of a loan scheme,” he stated. “We are custodians of a national trust.”

He called on the media to play a critical role in informing the public and maintaining accountability, stressing the need for continuous dialogue and public engagement.

“What we are building is not just a fund,” he said. “It is a future where no child is denied education due to poverty or circumstance,” Sawyerr said.

Sawyerr stated that it would aggregate listings from both the public and private sectors, as well as international employers interested in recruiting Nigerians.

According to him, this would commence from 2026.

“We don’t just give a loan and leave students on their own. This job portal is our way of supporting their journey towards economic stability,” he said.

He stressed that students would only begin repayment after securing employment, stating that this would begin after their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.

Sawyerr stated, “If you don’t have a job, you don’t pay. And when you eventually get a job, your repayment starts fresh.

“Once employed, 10 per cent of the beneficiary’s monthly income is deducted automatically by the employer and remitted to NELFUND, following verification through the NELFUND employment register.

“If an employee is laid off or resigns, the deductions stop. And in the event of death, the loan is written off. The family is not harassed.”

Speaking on the non-refund of fees to students who had paid before NELFUND disbursed the funds to their institutions, the managing director appealed to institutions to return the fees to such students.

According to him, schools have a moral and professional duty to return these funds to students.

“We’ve received multiple petitions from students who paid under duress, only to find their fees had also been paid by NELFUND.

“Institutions must refund this money. It’s disappointing that some schools have ignored this responsibility,” he said.

He stated that investigative bodies, like the ICPC and EFCC, had stepped in to question certain institutions over delays or refusals to refund.

“If an institution cannot refund directly to the student, they can pay the money back to us, and we will ensure it gets to the rightful student,” Sawyerr stated.

Speaking on the agency’s projections for the coming years, Executive Director of Operations at NELFUND, Mustapha Iyal, stated that the fund was currently managing over 3.2 million student records in its system.

Iyal, however, said the fund was projecting one million new applications by the end of 2025.

He added that the fund aimed to ensure that no student dropped out due to financial hardship.

He stated, “Basically, our projection right now is that we have about 3.2 million students in our system.

“What we’re looking at this year, from now to the end of the year, is about one million applications. We’re not pushing. We’re not saying that it’s compulsory.

“But we’re looking at how we can support one million applications to make sure that no one is dropping out of school.”

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