The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) may, within the next three years, extend its student loan initiative to learners in private institutions, according to the agency’s Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyerr.
Sawyerr made the disclosure on Thursday during a strategic engagement and sensitisation forum with institutional heads and education stakeholders in Enugu.
The session also featured outreach in local dialects to ensure wider understanding and participation in the scheme across the region.
While acknowledging the urgent financial needs of students in public tertiary institutions, Sawyerr explained that NELFUND’s immediate focus is on those in public universities and colleges.
He noted, however, that a broader inclusion is part of the long-term plan.
“We have only been going for one year. We need to really address the public sector first. These loans allow students to otherwise drop out for very small amounts of money,” he said.
“The students that we see in the public sector don’t even have the option, in most cases, to go to the private sector, and some of them are dropping out. So we want to address that, make sure that we’ve got them covered,” Sawyerr added.
He hinted at a future review of the scheme’s reach: “And then, when we see after a while, I think two, three years max, when we see the effect this has had on the generality of youth in Nigeria, we can then do some sort of review to see what it might mean for moving to the private sector segment.”
On the challenges encountered so far, Sawyerr pointed to issues common in new public service initiatives, such as mistrust and technical difficulties.
He said: “They just have a normal problem like everybody else has with technology, and then they say, this has been rigged against us. But we’re here. We’re not here to waste our time. We’re here to help the people apply and get institutions to also take part.”
Also speaking at the event, Dr. Chinyere Onyeisi, Special Adviser to the Enugu State Governor on Education Innovation, emphasized the importance of NELFUND’s support for the region.
She said “So what the government is doing has an essential role to play in different areas of education. But this NELFund has to do with the student support system. And our students in Southeast and Enugu in particular need to maximise the opportunity to apply.”
Onyeisi further encouraged school heads and teachers to take the message back to their communities.
“Because the major takeaway to the teachers, the heads of institutions that are here today is when they go back to their various schools, they are supposed to continue to step down the specialisation programme to make sure that the students understand the procedures, how to apply, and then apply effectively to benefit from this initiative. Because it’s real. And they are testifying that other states are already benefiting,” she said.
