No Fraud In Student Loan Scheme, Says Education Minister

The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has denied allegations of fraud in the disbursement of Student Loan by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

Following a meeting with vice chancellors, officials of the National Universities Commission, NELFUND and the Federal Ministry of Education, Alausa stated that claims of fraud were incorrect, citing a report from the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

The minister attributed issues with the scheme to timeline-related matters rather than fraudulent activities.

He assured that NELFUND is free from fraud, emphasizing the need to address challenges within the program’s implementation framework.

“Let me start by saying that there is no fraud in NELFUND. ICPC reported that the information was not correct. There is no fraud in NELFUND; what we have are issues that have to do with the timeline,” he said.

Recall that the ICPC had launched a comprehensive investigation into discrepancies in the student loan disbursement.

This was after a media report alleging that no fewer than 51 tertiary institutions were implicated in illegal deductions and exploitation related to the NELFUND scheme.

The institutions were alleged to have made unauthorized deductions ranging from N3,500 to N30,000 from each student’s institutional fees received through the loan fund.

ICPC had earlier stated that a clear case of discrepancies was established in the administration of the student loan scheme but later backtracked, stating that it made an error in its earlier statement and that NELFUND has no case to answer in the disbursement of the loan.

The commission announced that its investigation will further be extended to beneficiary institutions and individual student recipients.

No Fraud In Student Loan Scheme, Says Education Minister is first published on The Whistler Newspaper