Student Loan Disbursement Has Not Started Yet Successful Applicants Will Get Approval In Three Weeks
The over one hundred thousand students that have successfully applied for the student loans under the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND), will have to wait for about 3 weeks to get approvals for their student loans, it was gathered.
Also, no student loan has been disbursed as of now.
The spokesman of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND), Mr Nasir Ayiyogo, said the student loan application process has been going on smoothly.
“The applications are still ongoing smoothly. No loan has been disbursed yet. Applicants will start getting approvals for their loans in less than three weeks.
“The amount will be determined by charges of each institution and NELFUND will cover 100 percent of it, ” Mr Nasir Ayiyogo said. Earlier, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND), Mr Akintunde Sawyerr, while giving an update on the student loan scheme, said those whose applications were successful would undergo approval evaluation.
“Sixty thousand are those who have registered on the platform. About 30,000 have successfully applied for the loan but that does not mean the 30,000 have been approved. Up until this point, nobody has been given the loan. Now is the time for evaluation.
“The overwhelming response serves as a testament to the critical need for financial assistance among our student population, and we remain committed to addressing this urgent demand,” Mr Akintunde Sawyerr said
Mr Akintunde Sawyerr said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND) would work with security agencies to ensure that students do not abuse the student loan programme, hinting that those with criminal intentions would be fished out by the security agencies.
The student loan applications so far taken were only from students in federal tertiary institutions, as their colleagues in state-owned institutions will start to apply from the 25th of this month, according to Mr Akintunde Sawyerr. Students in private institutions are exempted from the student loan scheme, at least for now.
However, the rush to apply for the student loan has been described as a reflection of the state of the nation’s economy by parents who also faulted the refusal of the government to get their input before launching the student loan scheme.
Speaking on the development, the National President, National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, said, “The rush to apply for the loan is an indication of the poor state of the economy.
Also, it may show desperation on the part of some applicants. Many parents are finding it difficult to pay the tuition fees of their wards. Many parents have lost their jobs and many are under-employed.
” Some students are even the ones sponsoring their studies. My advice to the applicants, when they are given the loan is that they must use it judiciously. Those that are into petty trading or businesses from which they earn some money, should continue and not relax. The cost of living keeps increasing daily and there is no amount that an average parent can give that is going to be enough to keep the students going.
“However, as parents, we are still surprised that the government did not find us as critical stakeholders in the sector and seek our views and contributions before the bill was passed into law. If there is any issue with any student regarding the loan, won’t they contact the parents? It is late now to seek our view, they have started it already.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND) will soon start a comprehensive skills acquisition scheme in various vocational and technical fields.
The start of the skills acquisition programme has been slated for the last quarter of the year.
Initially, the scheme was not designed to include supporting artisans, but President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered their inclusion to equip youths with practical market-relevant skills.
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