The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Student Engagement, Sunday Asefon, has condemned heads of tertiary institutions for engaging in illegal acts of deductions and double fee collections from students benefiting from NELFUND.
In a statement signed by him in Abuja, promises to liaise with student bodies from universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education and take up the matter with the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa.
The statement calls for the setting up of a monitoring committee made up of students that will monitor the disbursements across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
“I condemn those Vice-Chancellors who have received the payment of disbursements of Student Loan and failed to inform the students and went ahead to collect school fees from those students” he stresses.
“Some even denying students from writing exam after they have received disbursements from the NELFUND”
“I condemn it in totality and as I speak to you, my office, student leaders across the country including NANS, National Association of University Students (NAUS), National Association of College of Education Students, National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), we are meeting and we are working towards meeting with the Minister of Education. And have a committee to monitor across the six geopolitical zones. As soon as NELFUND is disbursing, students can be immediately informed.
“Before the management of universities even write to NELFUND for receiving the alert, the students would have informed their colleagues that NELFUND has disbursed this amount of money.”
It expresses concern that heads of institutions, who were mostly beneficiaries of free education in their time, are the ones trying to frustrate President Bola Tinubu’s policy of student loan.
“I can assure you, we will soon be calling their names out. And any school found engaging with this kind of act, Nigerian students will not take it easy with them.
“You know Nigerians, we are the problem ourselves. Imagine the President who has this vision, who believes that giving education is just to give life. And for those whose parents are not capable or able to send their children to school, and the President felt there is need for every household to have quality education,” he adds.
“The attention of my office has been drawn to alarming reports of unauthorized deductions from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) student loans by management authorities of various tertiary institutions across the country”
A recent investigative report by The Guardian Newspaper has exposed that no fewer than 51 institutions are currently implicated in this scandal. These institutions have been found to deduct between ₦20,000 and ₦40,000 from students’ loan disbursements—an action that is not only fraudulent, but also directly undermines the integrity and purpose of the student loan scheme”
These illegal deductions, coupled with the refusal by some institutions to publicly announce the disbursement of funds to eligible students, represent a grave threat to the credibility of the NELFUND program”
“More critically, they cast a shadow on the goodwill and commitment of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose administration established the scheme to ensure inclusive access to education and relief for Nigerian parents”
“The intent of the loan is to support students, not to become an avenue for exploitation by school authorities” Asefon emphasizes
