The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has urged schools and students to provide accurate information to facilitate smooth loan disbursement.
This appeal was made by the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, NELFUND, Aliyu Mohammed, during an engagement with management and students of The Polytechnics, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Mohammed further stated that NELFUND has resolved some of the issues that had led to the unexpected delays in approving the students’ loans for disbursement to schools and students.
He said that, except for unexpected challenges or errors from the schools, disbursements of loans (tuition fees) to schools would take place within five working days.
He said that NELFUND has been consistent in improving its systems to ensure efficiency, effectiveness and accountability; hence, he appealed to the schools and students to assist NELFUND in achieving that by providing accurate information promptly and timely.
During an interactive session with the students, the NELFUND official restated that the conditions and process of the application have remained the same over the period, except for the continuous investments being made in the systems to ensure efficiency and timely disbursement of funds to students.
He disclosed that thousands of students have benefitted from the student loan scheme, further disclosing that information at the NELFUND database indicated that over 6000 students have successfully submitted applications for the loan, and it’s being processed.
He appreciated the commitment of the management of the school to the dreams and spirit of the student loan programme, assuring that more and speedy attention would be given to their applications for timely disbursement.
The Acting Rector of the School, Dr Abiden Taiwo Lasis, in his remarks, apologised to the NELFUND for the recent mix-up in the process, particularly the notifications to students, to begin payment of tuition fees due to delayed response from NELFUND
“We did that because of the eight-month delay we experienced in accessing the loan disbursement for the students. Ideally, the students paid 60 per cent of their tuition fees in the first semester and the remaining one in the second semester. But our second semester started in September last year, and several months after, nothing was heard from NELFUND.
“We are a state institution, and we need funds to run the institution. We need to pay the salaries of workers and other administrative burdens, particularly the electricity bill. We were forced to task the students so we could continue to run the school efficiently.
“But with the assurance we received from NELFUND about resolving the long time it takes to disburse the funds, we would henceforth rely on NELFUND for prompt and timely disbursement of funds to students.”
He appreciated the NELFUND for the recent workshop in Abuja for key officials involved in the loan application and disbursement, stating that it exposed them to the nitty-gritty of the programme and provided clarifications and answers to several unanswered questions.
Director of ICT of the school, Dr Florence Babalola, disclosed that the process of refunding tuition fees to about 25 students whose tuition fees have been paid by NELFUND is ongoing.
“These are students who have paid the tuition fees because their student loan disbursement was received. We have notified about 25 of them and have asked them to visit the students’ affairs department to fill in the necessary forms.”
Oladipupo Daniel, the president of the Student Union Government (SUG), said he has been at the forefront of the sensitisation responsible for the rise in the number of applications.
He promised to continue the sensitisation so that more people can benefit.