NELFUND: Five tertiary institutions from South-East, 35 others get N2.1bn students loan approval

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has approved student loan disbursements to five tertiary institutions in the South-East and 35 other regions in Nigeria.

NELFUND disclosed this in a statement on Friday, announcing the second phase of disbursements.

Institutions from the South-East include Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State; Ebonyi State University; Abia State University; Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike; and Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Anambra State.

The agency also noted that a total of N2.1 billion Naira was disbursed to an additional 40 tertiary institutions, bringing the total number of beneficiary institutions to 59.

The implication is that Nigerian students in institutions nationwide have benefitted from the student loan scheme, which had a budget of 50 billion Naira in the 2024 fiscal year.

“This expansion marks a significant milestone in NELFUND’s ongoing commitment to providing access to quality education for all Nigerian students, regardless of their financial circumstances,” NELFUND stated.

The latest disbursement comes months after NELFUND disbursed 1.17 billion Naira in institutional fees, covering 20,000 beneficiaries of the scheme.

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, had earlier expressed anger at the exclusion of institutions from the South-East in the first phase of the student loan scheme disbursement.