The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has published an infographic showing a breakdown of how a total of N49.3 billion has been disbursed since the scheme commenced in 2024.
According to NELFUND, it has paid out both institutional and upkeep loans amounting to N49.3 billion. Of this amount, 60.5% (N29.8 billion) was allocated to student institutional loans, while student upkeep loans accounted for 39.5% (N19.4 billion) of the total disbursement.
This update comes amid reports of sharp practices by some institutions that failed to inform their students about the payment of the loans, thereby leaving beneficiaries to struggle with settling their tuition fees.
Student Upkeep
NELFUND disclosed that N6.48 billion was disbursed as student upkeep loans from July to December 2024, while N12.98 billion was disbursed between January and February 2025.
It explained that the significantly higher disbursement at the start of 2025 was due to approved backlog payments for part of November and December 2024, “which could not be processed before the end of 2024.” The agency stated that the backlogs were settled in January 2025 along with the regular monthly disbursement.
Below is the breakdown of upkeep loan disbursements from July 2024 to February 2025, along with the number of beneficiaries for each month.
| Month | Amount disbursed | Number of recipients |
| July 2024 | N336,620,000 | 16,831 |
| August 2024 | N834,080,000 | 41,704 |
| September 2024 | N1,933,380,000 | 96,669 |
| October 2024 | N1,863,120,000 | 93,156 |
| November 2024 | N2,736,120,000 | 136,806 |
| December 2024 | N3,320,380,000 | 166,019 |
| January 2025 | N3,723,900,000 | 186,195 |
| February 2025 | N4,719,640,000 | 235,982 |
Note: The upkeep loan is a monthly stipend paid directly into the bank accounts of verified applicants to help them settle other bills.
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