 has announced that it disbursed N58.85 billion to support tuition and upkeep fees for over 550,000 students within a year of its establishment.){kind=link}
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced that it disbursed N58.85 billion to support tuition and upkeep fees for over 550,000 students within a year of its establishment.
This was revealed by Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, NELFUND’s Director of Corporate Communications, in a statement issued on Saturday to commemorate the agency’s one-year anniversary. NELFUND was established by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 24, 2024.
According to the statement, over 600,000 students have registered with the loan fund, with more than 550,000 successful loan applications recorded in the past year.
“This milestone reflects a bold commitment by the federal government to empower Nigerian students by removing financial barriers to higher education. In just twelve months, NELFUND has transformed access to education financing with over 600,000 students registered and over 550,000 successful loan applications; ₦56.85 billion disbursed to cover tuition fees and provide upkeep,” the statement noted.
The announcement comes in the wake of controversies surrounding alleged missing funds amounting to N71 billion within NELFUND.
Three weeks earlier, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) disclosed that it had launched an investigation into the agency over discrepancies in the disbursement of funds under the student loan scheme.
Responding to the allegations, NELFUND’s Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyerr, denied any financial misappropriation. “No money is missing. No money has been stolen. There had been some issues with what happened at the phase of this where human intervention comes in,” he stated during an interview on Channels Television on May 4, 2025.