The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has warned tertiary institutions against imposing unreasonable increases in tuition and other charges, saying schools that take advantage of the student loan scheme could lose access to loan payments.
NELFUND Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Akintunde Sawyer, disclosed this during an interview with TVC News Breakfast.
According to Sawyer, some institutions increased their fees after the introduction of the federal government’s student loan programme. He said NELFUND has rejected some of the charges and introduced guidelines aimed at preventing institutions from exploiting the scheme.
NELFUND moves against excessive school fees
Sawyer explained that the Fund would not approve payments it considers excessive or unjustified.
He said some institutions had already reversed fee increases after realising that NELFUND could decline to fund the additional charges.
The NELFUND chief executive said the measures were introduced because the student financing programme had increased the flow of funds to participating institutions.
He stressed that the loan scheme was designed to make higher education more accessible to students, rather than provide an opportunity for institutions to impose additional financial burdens on beneficiaries.
Student loan upkeep payments may take longer
Sawyer also addressed concerns over delays in the payment of student upkeep allowances.
He said NELFUND’s target is to process applications within about 45 days. However, he noted that the process depends partly on institutions, which are required to verify students before payments can be completed.
According to him, NELFUND may spend about 30 days processing an application before sending it to an institution for verification. Schools are then expected to complete their verification within another 15 days.
While some institutions complete the process quickly, others take longer, affecting the overall payment timeline.
NELFUND currently pays upkeep allowances directly into beneficiaries’ bank accounts. Sawyer said between 850,000 and 900,000 students had received the allowance at the time of the interview.
Agency rejects claims of additional charges
The NELFUND boss also responded to concerns that some institutions may be imposing additional charges on students seeking to benefit from the student loan programme.
Although he said he was not personally aware of such cases, Sawyer warned that NELFUND would take action against any institution found to be creating obstacles for students seeking access to the scheme.
He maintained that the Fund would not permit institutions to introduce practices that undermine the objectives of the student loan programme.
NELFUND explains how loan funds are monitored
Sawyer further defended the agency’s financial management system, stating that more than N322 billion disbursed by NELFUND was traceable through electronic transactions.
He said the agency does not make cash disbursements, noting that payments to institutions and individual beneficiaries are carried out electronically.
The agency, according to him, is subject to internal and external audits, as well as oversight from relevant government bodies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the National Assembly.
Sawyer added that NELFUND also operates within data protection regulations designed to protect the personal and financial information of beneficiaries.
The student loan scheme currently covers publicly owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, including federal and state-owned polytechnics.
