The Managing Director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has stated that beneficiaries of the student loan scheme are expected to begin repayment two years after completing their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), as long as they are employed.
Speaking in an interview on Arise Television, Sawyerr explained that graduates who do not secure employment within that time frame will be assisted by NELFUND through a job-matching portal. The portal will connect loan recipients to available job opportunities. Once employed, 10 per cent of their salary will be deducted by their employer to repay the loan.
He noted that while NELFUND does not create jobs, the agency is working to make job opportunities accessible to its beneficiaries in order to support repayment. According to him, both NELFUND and the recipients benefit from this arrangement.
Sawyer also emphasized that the loan application process is open to all eligible students without the need for personal connections, apart from the normal verification steps involved.
As of the time of his interview, a total of 724,000 students had applied for the loan, and 449,000 beneficiaries had already received disbursements. These beneficiaries are from 218 federal and state-owned tertiary institutions. He said that NELFUND had paid N47 billion directly to the institutions on behalf of these students, and an additional N38 billion had been disbursed to students for upkeep.
On the issue of potential defaults, Sawyerr explained that safeguards are in place to ensure that recipients can be tracked, using tools such as BVN and bank account verification. He added that repayment responsibility falls primarily on employers, who must confirm whether a new employee has a NELFUND loan and, if so, begin deductions with the employee’s consent.
Self-employed beneficiaries are expected to remit the required 10 per cent themselves.
Sawyerr also addressed situations where students may have paid their tuition before NELFUND made its payment. He said that in such cases, institutions are expected to refund the fees. Some institutions have already started the refund process, although some administrative fees have caused delays or shortfalls in the amounts returned. He described these issues as normal administrative matters that are being addressed in collaboration with the institutions.
He concluded by saying that while there are some initial challenges, NELFUND is working closely with schools and students to resolve them.
