The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has pledged to take action against institutions that sabotage President Bola Tinubu’s education loan initiative.
The NELFUND Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyer, who pledged during the ongoing stakeholders meeting and engagement with Heads of Colleges of Education, Agriculture, Health and Nursing in Abuja, warned that any institution found engaging in illegality will be reported and dealt with administratively by the Minister of Education.
Sawyer emphasised that NELFUND has paid registration charges for 293,000 students in 303 institutions and will not allow students to be asked to pay when funds have already been disbursed.
He stated that institutions found asking students to pay despite receiving funds from NELFUND will face administrative action and, if necessary, be reported for a criminal offence.
Sawyer assured that NELFUND, along with the National Orientation Agency and the Federal Ministry of Education, is conducting investigations into any perceived illegalities.
He reiterated the commitment to ensuring the success of the student loan scheme.
“The commitment of NELFUND is to pay all their registration charges. Our instruction is that once they have paid their institutional charges, they must have access, I repeat, they must have access to education, lectures, classes, tutorials and examinations.
“We paid the whole amount; we don’t want the students to put their hands in their pockets and bring out money, and we do not want students to pay because the school told them they haven’t received any money when they already have.
“That’s going to be a serious matter and will be attended to administratively. And if anything illegal is going on, they will be dealt with as criminal offences if schools are asking students to pay when we have already paid.
“This is not an issue of refund. There are certain instances when we’ve made payments to schools after the students have actually paid because we started payment mid-cycle, but anybody who pays the school after the school has received money from NELFUND is committing a crime.
“We don’t have the power to sanction – we can’t suspend, remove or expel – but if we find anything, we have to take it to the minister and if it’s criminal in nature, we have to escalate it to the agencies that will ensure that economic crimes and practices are not being committed.
“We can’t also punish the students for refusing to pay for the next session in the name of sanctioning the school. So we are treading with caution. Institutions that are erring are the ones that will face the music, and the minister is determined that this programme by President Bola Tinubu will not be sabotaged by selfish interests.
“We are already conducting our own investigation. The NOA is conducting its own investigation, and the Ministry of Education, through the Honourable Minister, is conducting a holistic investigation,” he said.
