298,000 students across 198 institutions get N59.9bn loan

No fewer than 298,124 students across public institutions nationwide have benefited from the student loan scheme, according to data obtained from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.

The total sum of money disbursed by the Fund currently stands at N59,878,283,149.

According to the data, the sum of N30,179,263,149 was disbursed directly to institutions as institutional loans while the sum of N29,699,020,000 was paid directly into account details provided by students as upkeep loans.

So far on the NELFUND portal, over 635,000 students have registered successfully while only 598,107 have applied for loans.

NELFUND last week Wednesday noted that its Student Loan Application System has now been fully digitised to streamline and accelerate the student loan processing experience for institutions and applicants.

“With this upgrade, all accredited institutions are now required to request access to SLAS to verify and upload student data related to loan applications.

“This is a critical step that ensures timely processing and disbursement of approved student loans,” NELFUND said in a statement by its Director of Corporate Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi.

The Fund also requested said institutions that had not yet been onboarded to send an access request to registration@nelf.gov.ng without delay.

“Once granted access, institutions will be able to view a real-time dashboard of their students’ loan applications, verify submitted data, and track the status of each application.

“We urge all institutions to take immediate action in the interest of their students, as verification and data upload by the institutions are mandatory steps before final approval and disbursement can be completed,” the statement said.