The Nigerian Education Loan Fund has given fresh approval for twenty-two more state tertiary institutions to participate in the disbursement of student loans.
In a statement made public on its X handle, the government organization noted that students from the institutions can now apply for student loans like others earlier approved on its portal.
The statement noted that the approval has followed due diligence and review from the committee responsible for the verification of the student portal. Before the new approval, 86 approved institutions were cleared to apply for the loan meant for tertiary institution students in the country.
The new figures now stand at 108 state-owned institutions that can now apply for the programme.
The implementation of the loan is part of the current administration’s effort to ease the stress of tertiary students in studying the tertiary institutions in the country, and the programme has been one of the flagship programmes of the current administration in the sector of education it was also part of the government campaign manifestos before his election.
Weeks after the assumption of office, President Bola Tinubu signed the Access to Higher Education Act into law, which provided the framework for providing loans to Nigerians who are 100% citizens and are from low-income homes across the country. According to the act, the loans will be used to facilitate the payment of their school fees in any tertiary institution in the country.
The act further gave the go-ahead for creating the Nigerian Education Loan Fund. NELFUND was given the responsibility of handling all issues relating to the request for student loans, grants, and recovery from the students. The funding of the establishment, according to the act, will be funded by different streams of income. The organization will also engage in other productive activities.
In recent weeks, N2.5 billion was announced as disbursement to various institutions across the country.
