The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has clarified why students from the South-East have not yet benefited from the federal government’s student loan program.
On Friday, NELFUND announced the disbursement of ₦2.95 billion to 27,667 students across 19 universities nationwide.
However, none of the federal institutions in the South-East were included in the list of recipients, sparking criticism from Nigerians on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Responding to the backlash, NELFUND explained that the exclusion of South-East institutions was not due to any regional bias but rather because none of the federal institutions in the region had completed the necessary verification process required to access the loan.
The organization emphasized that geopolitical regions do not influence the loan disbursement process. “We sent a verification list to every eligible institution across Nigeria,” the statement read. “Payments are made to institutions that have completed this verification. Unfortunately, none of the South-East institutions have responded to this request. We urge them to complete the process so their students can benefit from the scheme.”
Some of the institutions that have already benefited from the loan disbursements include the University of Maiduguri (Borno State), the University of Ibadan (Oyo State), Obafemi Awolowo University (Osun State), Federal Polytechnic Ilaro (Ogun State), and Federal College of Education Technical Gusau (Zamfara State), among others.
NELFUND called on stakeholders in the South-East to collaborate with the authorities of their respective institutions to facilitate the verification process, ensuring that their students can access the loans.
