The National Assembly, NASS, on Monday agreed with the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, to expand the student loan scheme from 1.6 million to 7 million direct beneficiaries as part of efforts to drive national transformation.
This was even as the Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed that with planned expansion into skills acquisition and technical/vocational education, the scheme is projected to cover 50 million Nigerians.
Speaking at a one-day national sensitisation programme on student loans organized by the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFUND in collaboration with NELFUND, he said the Fund has so far disbursed N282 billion to 1.6 million students.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, said the campaign was timely.
“No matter how beneficial a programme is, if the intended beneficiaries are not adequately informed about it, its impact will be limited.
“People need to understand what the programme entails and how they can access it. That is exactly what this sensitisation campaign is all about and should be taken round the entire six geo-political zones,” Jibrin said.
Chairman of the House Committee on Students’ Loans, Scholarships and Tertiary Education Financing, Ifeoluwa Eyindero, described the sensitisation as “timely and important” for creating awareness.
“This sensitisation programme is both timely and important, as it helps create awareness and deepen understanding of the opportunities available to students through the scheme.
“The Fund has recorded the remarkable achievement of reaching over 1.5 million beneficiary students and disbursing more than N282 billion to support Nigerian scholars,” Eyindero said.
Providing clearer statistics, NELFUND MD, Akintunde Sawyerr said 1.6 million Nigerian students have benefited directly from the scheme.
“Today, 1.6 million Nigerian students have directly benefited from the NELFUND scheme. If we consider that the average Nigerian family consists of about five people, it means we are directly and indirectly impacting nearly 10 million lives,” Sawyerr said.
He appealed to stakeholders for support to scale up the intervention.
“We are,, howevethe r appealing to stakeholders on the need to expand the student loan scheme to target up to 7 million beneficiaries across Nigerian tertiary institutions and vocational centers for required driving and real national transformation,” he said.
Earlier in his welcome address, Chairman of the Senate Committee on TETFUND, Senator Muntari Dandutse, said the collaborative sensitisation programme was in furtherance of the committee’s constitutional oversight responsibilities.
He noted the committee’s commitment to ensuring equitable access to education by all Nigerians.
