Only students from federal institutions will benefit first from student loans scheme, says FG

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced that only students from federal tertiary institutions will be the first beneficiaries of the loan, which is due to be launched on May 24.

Mr. Akintunde Sawyer, the Executive Vice Secretary of NELFUND, disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Monday.

Only students from federal universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and technical education will be eligible for the loan, according to Sawyer.

He said: “To begin with, we are going to start with students of federal institutions because it is a programme that we have to roll out in phases, but it will soon be rolled out to state institutions and vocational skills or qualifications.”

He pointed out that 1.2 million students from federal government-owned universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and technical colleges would benefit from the first phase of the scheme.

Sawyer said that although all students from federal tertiary institutions are eligible for the loan, only students whose school has uploaded their data on the portal will be able to access the fund.

He said this is necessary to verify students’ admission status.

Other verification requirements are the JAMB admissions letter, bank verification number, national identity number, and a completed application form from the website.

While calling on students in federal tertiary institutions to visit the website (www.nelf.gov.ng) to apply from May 24, the organization said students in state universities and vocation skills centres would apply at a later date.

One of the key features of the programme is the absence of physical contact between the loan applicant and NELFUND.

It stated that the portal provides a user-friendly interface for students to conveniently submit their loan applications.

Applicants will receive monthly stipends for upkeep, in addition to the interest-free loan.amount has yet to be stated.

The institution will receive the fees, not the students, while the maximum amount of the fee will be paid per session.