Students loan: N201m paid to University of Ibadan for 1,370 students, says NELFUND

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has remitted the sum of N201 million to the University of Ibadan (UI) for the 2023/2024 academic session.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by Ganiyu Saliu, the registrar of the University of Ibadan sighted by BusinessDay. According to the statement, “The amount covers the fees of 1,370 students of the university who applied for the student loan.”

Saliu said the University of Ibadan bursary department is currently processing the fund to enable the concerned students to obtain their smart receipts.

“Any student who is a beneficiary of the NELFUND loan, and has already paid levies for the session is entitled to a refund,” he said.

The statement further gave students a guide on how to apply for a refund, “to apply for a refund, the student must write through the dean of students to the deputy vice-chancellor in charge of academics, providing their account details for the refund.”

In addition, the statement directed that a photocopy of the original payment receipt must be attached to each application.

Read also: How to create account, complete profile, as students loan portal goes live

Akintunde Sawyer, the managing director of the NELFUND assured Nigerians earlier in June during an NTA Weekend File live programme where he spoke on ‘Monitoring First Phase of Students Loan Scheme’ that the disbursement of the first phase of the student loan would commence in 20 days.

According to Sawyerr, Nigerian students can access loans to pursue their academic aspirations without financial constraints through the scheme as it is going to be rolled out in phases.

“The first thing I can tell you is that we’re going to roll this out in phases, the first phase is going to be with federal institutions and then we’re going to move to the other tertiary institutions.

“It’s going to be the public sector mainly at the beginning because that’s where we find the bulk of students who perhaps need the financing cover,” Sawyerr said.

President Bola Tinubu signed the access to higher education Act into law barely a month after he was sworn in to make available loans to indigent students for the payment of their fees in tertiary institutions across the country.