Horrible Experiences by the Beneficiaries
“My Experience with NELFUND disbursement at YABATECH: when I went to check and confirm the status of my student loan disbursement. I discovered that the loan has not yet been reflected on the student data portal.”
That was the experience of the beneficiaries of the student loan at Yaba College of Technology. The student is among the Nigerians who are victims of sharp practices by Nigeria’s higher institutions.
Even after receiving the interest-free loan on behalf of their students, some institutions go ahead to pressure such beneficiaries to make another tuition payment from their pockets, thereby defeating the main essence of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
The undergraduate is not the only victim of the sharp practices. Another beneficiary, who identified himself as Ishaq Ahmed, said that even after three months since NELFUND approved his institutional loan, “My School is sleeping over the money. Telling us to fill a form for the refund, Yet the process is slowly and not Transparent It’s important that Nelfund should take the bold steps to punish the offenders.”
Asking for a Refund
The horrible experiences are endless. In March 2025, the student agency advised students whose loan had been disbursed—yet had made payment from their pockets—to approach their institutions for a refund.
But it seems this isn’t effective, as the affected institutions have also deployed delay tactics to frustrate the beneficiaries and force them to make another payment towards examination period. They had no choice than to succumb to late minute pressure because they didn’t want to mix their papers.
This highlights the issue of corruption and embezzlement among public officials, including in highly academic sectors of the country.
NELFUND Threatens to Punish Institutions That Withhold Student Loans
Since the student loan program began in 2024 with N29.8B for institutional loan and N19.4B for upkeep loan, some beneficiaries say they only hear about the disbursement of loans to their institutions on social media because some institutions remain mute, consistently failing to update the portal of their students when such payments are received on their behalf.
The sharp practices have made the CEO of NELFUND, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, issue a stern warning to institutions to stop withholding student loan disbursement information.
He promised that institutions found culpable would face the full wrath of the law. He didn’t specifically mention if bursars of such institutions would be the ones held responsible, since all payment-related issues pass through the bursary departments of every institution.
Sawyerr said that the case of institutions withholding such vital information from the beneficiaries could be treated as an intention to commit financial fraud against the beneficiaries of NELFUND and the federal government, describing such practices as not only “unethical but also a direct violation of the principles upon which NELFUND was established.”
“We will not hesitate to take legal action against any institution found engaging in such deceptive practices,” he said in a press statement he personally signed on April 10, 2025, which was obtained by EdubaseNG.
The NELFUND CEO charged all institutions to be transparent, since NELFUND was designed to expand access to higher education by relieving the financial burden on Nigerian students and their families.
Meanwhile, the student loan agency has published a guideline on how students can track the disbursement status of their loans and know if their institution has received the loans on their behalf.
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