Students Decry Inconsistent NELFUND Loan Disbursements, Interests

Students Decry Inconsistent NELFUND Loan Disbursements, Interests

 

In a bid to relieve students of some financial burdens amidst Nigeria’s economic downturn, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu initiated interest-free loans to students studying across public tertiary institutions in May 2023. This came after similar efforts by former president Muhammadu Buhari failed to materialise.

In June 2024, the Federal Government of Nigeria started disbursement of funds to settle the tuition fees and monthly upkeep for the applicants successfully approved by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), a body Tinubu created to administer the loans.

A visit to one of NELFUND’s posts shared on their X (formerly Twitter) handle showed that the loans were to be repaid by the beneficiaries with zero interest, as promised by the president.

However, students are now grappling with shocks as the loan disbursement continues. What appeared to be a guaranteed relief some months ago now seems like a burden to the beneficiaries who took the loan opportunity.

Abdulraheem Ibrahim, a student from Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto State (UDUS), applied for the loan with anticipation. He had a belief that it was a free-interest loan. With a bag full of hope, Ibrahim visited the Management and Information System (MIS), an area where his school management pasted the names of students who were approved for the loan’s Batch A. This came after months of dissatisfaction among UDUS students before NELFUND could disburse money to their school in September — as one of the universities approved for the second batch of the ongoing loan.

Ibrahim was elated when he saw his name on the list after hours of stressful checks.

When NELFUND disbursed money to UDUS, it happened to be in the middle of the second semester after students had paid their school fees. The school was left with no choice but to refund the students. However, it took another turn of months before Ibrahim got refunded. He associated the delay with the old-fashioned process that students were directed to follow before they could get refunds — shortlisted individuals were directed to write a letter of refund, attach their school fees payment receipt and submit them to the school’s Bursary Office.

Ibrahim’s concentration shifted to the huge differences between his refunded school fees and the institutional fees appearing to have been approved in the NELFUND portal. While he paid N72,660 as the 2023/2024 academic fees, N87,960 appeared on his NELFUND portal as the sum approved for his institutional fees.

“For my school fees for the last academic session, the amount released by our school management that I paid was N72,660. While N87,960 showed on the NELFUND dashboard,” he said.

“FG should account for the differences. It is a loan, not a grant, and nobody will pay more than he received,” he continued.

NELFUND Loan — Relief or Burden?

Recall that NELFUND commenced registration of student loans as far back as May 2024, with so much expectation of enjoying the loan’s benefits overwhelming the applicants. However, despite early verification, the hope of students hung in the air before they saw themselves enjoying the loan.

Abdulqoyum Idris, a student from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, was so happy when his application for the loan was accepted in September. Little did he know that his fate was still undecided.

Although NELFUND disbursed funds to his school towards the end of the 2023/2024 academic session, ABU students had already paid their school fees, and the school authority decided to use the loan to settle the 2024/25 academic fees. The loan situation became worrisome for Idris as ABU management failed to confirm the disbursement amid registrations for the new academic session.

Idris was unsure of his fate when his school management prepared to open a portal for students’ registration in the school-owned hall of residence on January 3. Many students who found themselves in the same position as Idris feared suffering from undergoing hell before getting a private-owned hostel — the only alternative to missing out on a cheap opportunity proffered by the school hostels. Why? Because the unsettled loan will deny them access to the school’s hostel portal until the university management confirms the loan disbursement and settles their school fees.

“I think the money has been disbursed to the school but the management has not confirmed the alert,” Idris told this reporter in December.

“The school management has decided to open hostel reservations for students on 3rd January. Several students rely on the student loan. If eventually our school fees are not cleared prior to the time the hostel portal opens, we will not be able to gain access to the portal. That would be a disaster because it is very expensive to get apartments off campus in our school.”

Idris felt uneasy until the evening of January 2 when the school management resolved their school fees issues using the NELFUND loan.

The NELFUND X handle claimed N475,952,750.00 had been disbursed to ABU on November 6. The money targets 6,173 ABU students.

 

Muritador Kabir, a student from the University of Ilorin, suffered a similar plight as Idris. Despite being verified since September, the delay in the loan process defeated his primary reason for the loan application.

As a student gripped with financial challenges, Kabir applied for the loan believing it would relieve his financial burdens. Instead, the loan put him in a tight position as it failed to arrive until the threat of his school fees deadline came in. To avoid the consequences of late registration, Kabir struggled to pay his tuition fees after his hope for the NELFUND loan was dashed.

“The school has put a deadline for the payment. If you refuse to pay, the consequence is that you will need to pay an additional fee for late registration. That’s the reason why I paid,” Kabir explained.

“I struggled to pay the money because I’m not from a rich family. Before I even gathered N100,000, I knew how it was. It’s not easy at all.”

Kabir had paid for two academic sessions after he registered for the NELFUND loan. Unlike other students who experienced a surge in their NELFUND portal, the amount approved for Kabir’s tuition fees was lower than his school fees. While he paid the sum of N144,600 as his school fees for the 2023/24 academic session, he paid N155,000 for the 2024/2025 session. The fees were more than the N120,000 NELFUND approved for his institutional fees. The irregularities threw him into confusion; he was not sure of what to repay in the due time.

“My NELFUND dashboard is showing N120,000 was approved for my school. I have never received any money up till now since I have been verified for the loan. The school has been telling us that the money has not been disbursed to the school authority,” Kabir said with frustration overwhelming his voice while speaking with this reporter in December.

“I have already struggled to pay the sum of N155,000 as my school fees, and I am waiting for the loan. I don’t know, I don’t know how they are paying it.”

FALSE PROMISES

Abubakar Sa’ad, another UDUS student, narrated how the Federal Government’s false promises threatened to violate his faith. As a Muslim, the free-interest promises lured him to apply for the NELFUND loan because his religion admonished taking or giving loans with interest, flagging it as usury.

“The Federal Government stated that the student loan is interest-free which they posted on the official page of NELFUND on X,” Sa’ad said.

Sa’ad believes the huge difference between his school fees refunded to him and the one approved by NELFUND was a mischievous attempt to dishonour the trust he deposited in the federal government.

“The question now is that the remaining balance of N15,300 is with who? NELFUND or the School?” Sa’ad questioned.

“Because who will pay beyond what he received in the due time? I will never pay interest when refunding the money back to the Federal Government two years after NYSC. I will pay exactly the amount I borrowed with evidence of receipts,” he stressed.

Recognising the benefits of the loans towards students’ welfare, he suggested that the government address the problems with the loan programme through active monitoring, prompt payment, sufficient service management to respond to students’ queries and accurate confirmation of tuition fees from students’ respective schools before disbursement.

“Are we going to say the N15,300 difference is a service charge or bank charge? Because that is ridiculous to hear,” Sa’ad concluded with a pause.

 

 

Sa’ad’s story mirrors a similar situation experienced by thousands of students who applied for a loan because of the zero-interest vow. Among them is Ibrahim who did not think of applying for the loan but was motivated by initial promises.

Ibrahim now hopes the government will remedy the irregularities. Either to release the remaining balance to cover the differences or to address the malfeasance on the NELFUND portal.

“FG is to be held accountable. They should either ensure that the disbursed sum is the exact amount to be paid back. Or they should complete the payment of the withheld amount since they said that the loan is free of interest. That is what made a lot of students and someone like me apply for the loan,” Ibrahim explained.

“That is the only way to prove that the loan is given to help students on their academic journey, and not to use the initiative to achieve something else, that is in order to fulfil their personal desires.”

HOW MUCH DISBURSED SO FAR?

An X post shared by Sunday Dare, Special Adviser, Media and Public Communication/Spokesperson to President Tinubu, revealed that an aggregate sum of N11.04 billion has been disbursed to 98 public tertiary institutions in Nigeria as of November 6. This was reposted by NELFUND on the same day.

The post also showed that 105,844 students have benefited from the Nigerian government’s NELFUND financial support, covering the six geo-political zones in the country. The South West has the highest numbers of 27 institutions, followed by the North West recording 18 schools, then the North East (16) and the South South(15). The regions with the lowest counts on the list are the South East and North Central, with 11 institutions respectively.

 

 

Despite the figures, many students like Abdulkadir Ridwanullahi, another student from the University of Ilorin who was verified for the loan in September, bemoaned the uncompromising delay that pushed their hope to the brink.

Speaking to this reporter in December, Ridwanullahi described the uncertainty he was faced with as he could not benefit from the loan opportunity.

Speaking on the irregularity in the payment of the institutional fees, he acknowledged that his actual school fee was N93,000 but he was surprised to see N109,000 as the amount approved on the NELFUND dashboard.

EFFORTS

We reached out to every party concerned in this story for comments on the NELFUND challenges. However, all efforts proved abortive.

When we contacted NELFUND’s Head of Media and Public Relations Nasir Ayitogo, he directed this reporter to speak with Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, the Director of Strategic Communications. At the time of publication, Mr Oluwatuyi was yet to return our messages and reminders.

This reporter sent several emails to the email addresses procured on ABU’s official website. Probing further, we messaged them for an interview through their official X handle. But all the messages received no response.

Dr Alex Akanmu, the Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Ilorin, promised to respond to our questions during a phone conversation. However, we have not received any feedback at press time.

 

FIJ