The website of the student loan fund has been flooded with over 60,000 applications since its launch, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyerr, revealed this during an ongoing press briefing in Abuja on Thursday 3Oth May.
He disclosed that over 90% of federal institutions have submitted the list of students, noting that only two federal universities and two federal polytechnics are yet to do so.
Sawyerr also stated that the scheme will be made available to students of state universities in the next three weeks.
Recall that in June 12, 2023, President Bola Tinubu signed the Access to Higher Education Act, 2023 into law to enable the less privileged students to access interest-free loans for their educational pursuits in any Nigerian tertiary institution.
Meanwhile, the Act, popularly known as the Students Loan Law, also established the Nigerian Education Loan Fund to process all loan requests, grants, disbursement, and recovery.
Although the government initially announced that the scheme would be launched in September, it suffered several delays leading to an indefinite postponement in early March.
The Presidency had linked the delay to Tinubu’s directive to expand the scheme to include loans for vocational skills.
After receiving a briefing from the NELFUND team led by the Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu, on January 22, the President directed the Fund to extend interest-free loans to Nigerian students interested in skill-development programmes.
The president cited the need for the scheme to accommodate those who may not want to pursue a university education, noting that skill acquisition is as essential as obtaining undergraduate and graduate academic qualifications.
