The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has clarified the reasons behind the disparities and delays reported in the disbursement of students’ upkeep allowances under the new loan scheme.
NELFUND’s Managing Director, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, gave the explanation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Sawyerr acknowledged that the Fund had received numerous complaints from students expecting their stipends, noting that the issues largely stemmed from differences in application timing, academic calendars, and institutional processes.
“It is not possible to have this kind of scheme without having complaints somewhere. We receive complaints every day here,” he said.
According to him, many complaints were discovered to be linked to students’ late applications, despite claims that they had been waiting for months.
“When you ask, how long have you been waiting, when did you apply? They will say last year. When we check the books, we discover they only applied the previous week,” he said.
He explained that the differences in school calendars and varying submission periods had made it difficult to synchronise upkeep payments nationwide.
Sawyerr also clarified that the Fund would not make retrospective payments to avoid double disbursement. He said once a student applies for a new academic session, payments for the previous session automatically stop, regardless of how many months of allowance they have received.
He said the misunderstanding around this process was partly due to inadequate communication.
“We are dealing with many different date points in this business,” he added, emphasising that loan processing takes time due to necessary verification and due diligence.
Sawyerr further revealed that the Federal Ministry of Education was preparing new measures to enforce timely refunds from institutions that receive excess payments instead of carrying them over into a new academic year.
On reports of schools inflating tuition fees, the NELFUND chief stressed that institutions themselves upload their official fee schedules into the verification system.
He assured students that the Fund would continue improving its processes to address discrepancies and enhance transparency across the loan scheme.
