The Nigerian Education Loan Fund has said it is working towards disbursing approved student loans within 45 days.
Managing Director Akintunde Sawyerr disclosed this while speaking with Arise News.
He explained that loan disbursements are being synchronised with the academic calendars of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
“There are a number of moving parts here, but we certainly endeavor to pay within 45 days, provided that the value that needs to be realized is when the schools start,” he said.
He stressed that students should not assume approval automatically means immediate payment.
NELFUND only disburses when the funding is required for an ongoing or imminent academic session.
“You might make an application in January, but if your school doesn’t start till September, we’re not going to make a payment until you can begin to receive value,” he explained.
The Fund is currently working to synchronise applications, institutional approvals and disbursements with school calendars.
“Some of the students may have applied before then. We are trying to synchronise this and make this more orderly,” he added.
The process also requires cooperation from beneficiary institutions in processing approvals promptly.
NELFUND currently has about 1.8 million applications and has made cumulative disbursements to about 1.6 million beneficiaries.
The huge demand has necessitated upgrades to NELFUND’s systems to improve capacity and strengthen security.
Sawyerr also disclosed that the Fund had cleared outstanding upkeep allowances for May, June and July.
The Fund is preparing to pay the August allowance.
He declined to guarantee that students would never experience delays in future.
“Our guarantee is that we’ll communicate this with the student community whenever we’re going to do this, so that they can be better prepared and better planned,” Sawyerr said.
Digital Operations Manager at The Students Forum Nigeria.
