Loan: South-East-based institutions ignore student verification requests – NELFUND

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund says students from South-East higher institutions have yet to benefit from the student loans being disbursed by the agency because no higher institution from the area has responded to its requests for student verification.

It explained that the verification was a crucial step in the loan disbursement process.

Recall that there had been allegations that the South-East was intentionally excluded from the student loan program initiated under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

The criticism followed the publication of a list of 19 institutions that have so far received loans.

As of Friday, NELFUND has disbursed a total of N2.9 billion in loans to 27,667 students from 19 federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education. However, no institutions from the South-East were included.

Statement from NELFUND reads, “Geopolitical zones do not influence the disbursement of these loans. We have sent verification requests to all eligible institutions. Disbursements are being made to those that have completed the verification process. Unfortunately, no institution in the South-East has responded to our verification request. We encourage them to do so promptly to enable their students to benefit from this scheme.”