The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) says while it does not guarantee jobs, it is developing a centralised job portal to give beneficiaries early access to employment opportunities in Nigeria and abroad.
The Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this on Thursday during a media engagement in Abuja marking one year since the scheme’s launch.
Sawyerr said the portal would aggregate listings from the public and private sectors, as well as from international employers seeking Nigerian talent.
“We don’t just give a loan and leave students on their own. This job portal is our way of supporting their journey toward economic stability,” he said.
He stressed that repayment would only begin after beneficiaries secure employment, noting that repayment starts after their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
“If you don’t have a job, you don’t pay. And when you eventually get a job, your repayment starts fresh.
“Once employed, 10 per cent of the beneficiary’s monthly income is deducted automatically by the employer and remitted to NELFUND, following verification through the NELFUND employment register.
“If an employee is laid off or resigns, the deductions stop. And in the event of death, the loan is written off. The family is not harassed,” Sawyerr added.
On the issue of non-refund of fees to students who had paid before NELFUND disbursed their tuition to schools, the managing director appealed to institutions to return the fees to affected students.
He said institutions have a moral and professional obligation to refund these monies.
“We’ve received multiple petitions from students who paid under duress only to find their fees had also been paid by NELFUND.
“Institutions must refund this money. It’s disappointing that some schools have ignored this responsibility,” he said.
Sawyerr noted that the ICPC and EFCC have started questioning some institutions over delays or refusals to refund students.
“If an institution cannot refund directly to the student, they can pay the money back to us and we will ensure it gets to the rightful student,” he stated.
Speaking on the Fund’s future projection, the Executive Director of Operations, NELFUND, Mustapha Iyal, said the agency is currently managing over 3.2 million student records.
Iyal said NELFUND projects to process one million new applications by the end of 2025, stressing that the target is not mandatory but aimed at ensuring no student drops out due to financial hardship.
“Basically, our projection right now, we have about 3.2 million data students in our system.
“What we’re looking at this year, from now to the end of the year, we’re looking at about 1 million applications. We’re not pushing. We’re not saying that it’s compulsory.
“But we’re looking at how can we support 1 million applications to make sure that no one is dropping out of school,” he said.
PIAK