The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has dismissed claims that the Federal Government’s student loan scheme favours children whose parents are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Sawyerr described the allegation as a “completely ridiculous idea”, arguing that the electronic application process makes it impossible for NELFUND to determine or favour beneficiaries based on political affiliation.
“I have not heard this allegation, but I can tell you that it’s a completely ridiculous idea that the administration of Bola Tinubu is focused on trying to fund people who support the party. We are talking about students; many of them are yet to vote, some of them are going to be voting for the first time, [and] many of them are not party members.
“How, in any event, do we determine who is a party member and who isn’t? Even if you are running a manual process, how do you do that? You can’t. It’s unlikely to yield you any result,” Sawyerr said during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.
He said the loan application process was designed around objective eligibility criteria, adding that applicants must apply electronically and provide information such as their names and matriculation numbers.
“It is a process you have to apply for this loan electronically. If you don’t have a name, you can’t apply for this loan. You provide your matriculation number; you have to be in a public institution,” he said.
The NELFUND MD added that the scheme’s system does not discriminate based on personal characteristics, religion or ethnicity.
“We have a system that is focused on people who are Nigerians and meet the standard. The system doesn’t recognise your gender. There is no bias in the system at the front end or the back end.
“This is a system that doesn’t care whether you are of one tribe or the other. This system does not have a view or an opinion on whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, or an African traditional religionist; it doesn’t want to know,” he said.
Sawyerr also said demand for the student loan had been “overwhelming”, describing the scheme as a lifeline for students struggling to finance their education.
He revealed that NELFUND had disbursed ₦162 billion in upkeep allowances, while the scheme had contributed to a reported 20 per cent reduction in student dropout rates.
Weighing in on repayment, Sawyerr said beneficiaries would repay the loans based on their ability to pay. He also said funds reportedly recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the scheme had not yet been received by NELFUND.
The student loan scheme was established under the Student Loans Act signed into law by President Tinubu in April 2024. It provides interest-free financial support to eligible Nigerian students in public tertiary institutions.
The scheme covers approved institutional charges and upkeep allowances, with repayment scheduled to begin two years after completion of the National Youth Service Corps programme.
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