Over 60,000 Students Apply For Nelfund Loan In One-week

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), has said out of nine million and half hits on its website since the launch of student loans a week ago, it has received over 60,000 applications from students in Federal Government institutions.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Fund, Akintinde Sawyerr who made the disclosure during a Post-Application Launch press conference on Thursday in Abuja, however, added that only the applications of 30,000 students were free of errors and successfully processed.

He said: “We’ve had overwhelming response an overwhelming response to the student loan portal.

“Since the launch of our student loan application portal last Friday for students in federal institutions of higher learning, we have witnessed an extraordinary surge in applications with over 60,000 applications since the launch of the portal.

“This for us has been an overwhelming response and it serves as a testament to the critical need for financial assistance amongst our student population. We remain committed to addressing this urgent demand.”

Sawyer also disclosed that students in state-owned institutions would be able to also apply for the loans in the next three weeks. To this end, he urged state institutions to begin submission of data of their students for onward processing.

“in line with our commitment to democratize higher education, we are excited to announce that NELFUND will commence accepting applications from students attending state-owned tertiary institutions in three weeks time.

“We request all state institutions to submit their student’s data immediately, as requested, in order to facilitate a smooth and seamless application process.”

While noting that 90 per cent of federal universities have submitted their students’ data to its dashboard, he, however, disclosed that two federal universities and seven polytechnics were yet to submit their student data

“We are pleased to report that over 90% of federal institutions of higher learning have submitted their student’s data to NELFUND.

“However, we urge the remaining two federal universities and five federal polytechnics to expedite the process to ensure that all eligible students can access NELFUND’S financial support,

The NELFUND boss further disclosed that in a drive to go beyond financial assistance, it would launch its skills acquisition programme in the next six months, to e

“NELFUND recognizes the profound importance of equipping all our youths with practical market-relevant skills.

“Six months from today, we will launch a comprehensive skilled skills acquisition programme providing training in various vocational and technical fields.

“This program is designed to prepare students to meet the demands of the modern job market, fostering entrepreneurship and innovation among our young people.