The Managing Director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has acknowledged that there have been significant delays in disbursing student loans under the new scheme, urging tertiary institutions to refund students who paid tuition while awaiting approval. His comments come in response to growing complaints from students about late stipend payments and fee disbursements.
Sawyerr explained that rigorous verification procedures are at the heart of the delay. He said NELFUND must confirm with schools that loan applicants are bona fide students, and institutions, in turn, must verify their rosters before sending back their approvals. These steps, he admitted, take time, and by the time a school confirms a student’s status, the deadline for fee payment may already have passed, forcing students to prepay.
Because of this lag, Sawyerr said, NELFUND has repeatedly appealed to universities and polytechnics to refund students any fees paid out of pocket once the loan finally clears. He emphasised that while the Fund cannot force institutions to hand back the money, it is making a strong moral case. He also said the Federal Ministry of Education is considering stronger measures to encourage prompt refunds.
On why NELFUND does not pay arrears from prior sessions, Sawyerr maintained that the Fund must guard against double payments. According to him, once a new academic session starts, payments for the former session must cease. He explained that students who apply late in a session receive only what remains of their stipend at that point, rather than a full twelve months.
Regarding discrepancies between declared and actual school fees, Sawyerr revealed that institutions upload the official fees for each course onto NELFUND’s verification system. If students discover that what’s recorded doesn’t match reality, they can formally challenge it. Early in the rollout, he said, temporary figures were used just to keep the application platform running, but these have since been corrected to reflect actual chargeable amounts.
Sawyerr also pointed out other contributing factors to delays, such as late applications from students, differing academic calendars across institutions, and verification bottlenecks. He urged patience while the system continues to mature, adding that the complexity of synchronising payments across varying session timelines is a major operational challenge. Despite the frustrations, he noted that the loan scheme is still relatively new, and such teething issues are expected as the programme scales.
This public acknowledgement by NELFUND’s leadership could mark a turning point for the student loan scheme, as it not only brings transparency to the process but also pressures institutions to act more responsibly in refunding students. For many students relying on the loan, timely disbursement and fair treatment by universities could make or break their academic progress.
