The management of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has clarified reasons students of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) were not eligible for the loan facility put in place by the administration of the President and Commander-in-Chief, Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Fund, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, who stated this while addressing newsmen in Abuja explained that it was due to their inability to possess the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Number- one of the major requirements.
This clarification mean that although NOUN was listed as the 29th school among the 126 federal higher institutions to benefit from the scheme on the NELFUND website, they, however, would not be among the 1.2million beneficiaries in the first phase of the project.
The MD also revealed that 60,000 students had registered for the facility in one week, out of which 30,000, representing 50 per cent of the figure, successfully applied.
He said the agency had strict criteria and guidelines, and would not bend the rules for any institution or individual, no matter how highly placed.
According to him, the Fund would ensure due diligence, “protect tax-payers’ money and safeguard the scheme from frivolously handing out money without accountability
Mr. Sawyerr said: “We have strict criteria and guidelines around how people can access this loan opportunity.
All of them are non-negotiable. JAMB (number) is non-negotiable using this application process.
Unfortunately, if an applicant hasn’t got a JAMB number, and hasn’t gone through the JAMB application process, it is going to be impossible to grant that individual a loan at this stage.
It would be recalled that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government had set up the loan fund to support indigent Nigerians in their higher education pursuit, while they pay back in instalments, two years, after completing their National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) programme.
The disbursed loan would be paid directly to the institutions where the applicant’s admission was domiciled to avoid diversion, while repayment of 10 per cent of the loan would also be done by the employer of any beneficiary at source.
The repayment was made as flexible as possible as the Fund was not willing to criminalise beneficiaries who defaulted.
Meanwhile, the expected sources of NELF funding include; one per cent of all profits accruing to them Federal Government from oil and other minerals, one per cent of taxes, levies and duties accruing from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Custom Service (NCS), Education Bonds and Education Endowment Fund schemes.