The Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) has been accused of charging its students an extra ₦20,000 outside the student loan disbursed by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
Students who are beneficiaries of the student loan—a programme under the purview of NELFUND—told EdubaseNG that the management of FUOYE suddenly introduced an “internet levy” and “forced students to pay, not with the loan, but through a separate payment entirely.”
Another beneficiary, who preferred not to be named, told an EdubaseNG reporter that the ₦20,000 was charged as an extra fee.
“One such school is FUOYE, where students were forced to pay ₦20,000 for internet services. They asked the students to pay the sum in addition to the school fees and not as part of the school fees,” the student said.
EdubaseNG sent an email to the management of FUOYE to seek clarification, but the institution had yet to respond at the time of compiling this report.
The allegation of illegal charges by FUOYE comes at a time when over 50 institutions have reportedly either deducted from loans received by students or charged additional amounts under the guise of service charges.
The student loan scheme commenced in 2024, with the government disbursing tuition fees of successful applicants directly to the bank accounts of their institutions. However, the scheme has been marred by delays and a lack of transparency from some of the receiving institutions in connive with financial institutions.
In some cases, institutions have withheld disbursements and pressured students to pay their tuition fees independently—leading to cases of double payment. When students are directed to request a refund, some institutions deploy delay tactics or refund an amount far below what was initially paid.
Stakeholders have called on Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies to investigate the activities of institutions allegedly bent on frustrating the goals of the education loan scheme, which is designed to relieve parents and students of financial burdens and reduce the dropout rate among undergraduates in Nigerian universities.
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