The Nigerian Education Loan Fund has ruled out publishing the names of students benefiting from its loan scheme, citing data protection concerns and the need to protect beneficiaries from embarrassment and possible targeting.
The Director-General of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, said the fund would only disclose the institutions that received payments and the number of beneficiaries, insisting that the identities of individual students would remain confidential.
Since the launch of the student loan portal on May 24, 2024, NELFUND has disbursed a total of N375.28bn as of Monday, November 9, 2026, comprising N194.77bn in institutional fees and N180.50bn in upkeep allowances.
The fund also disclosed that 1,675,474 student loans had been disbursed across 320 beneficiary institutions.
Sawyerr, who spoke in an interview with The PUNCH, argued that students who borrowed money to finance their education should not be exposed publicly because of their financial circumstances.
The position comes amid calls by education and finance experts for greater transparency and accountability in the administration of the student loan scheme, particularly as concerns mount over its long-term sustainability and recovery mechanisms ahead of the first repayment window in 2028.
Asked if NELFUND considered disclosing the names of beneficiaries in response to calls for transparency in its disbursement, Akintunde responded, “No, certainly not. There are data protection issues. If you borrow money from an institution or you borrow money from me, you don’t want to see it on a notice board or to see it on television that you borrowed money from me.
“Some people are embarrassed by taking loans. Also, some people don’t want to be targeted, so we’re never going to publish the names of individual beneficiaries. We’ll tell you the schools that we paid; we can tell you the numbers, but the data protection laws prevent us from giving out the names of individuals who have taken loans.”
On whether the loans should attract interest, at some point, Sawyerr said NELFUND had no immediate plans to charge interest, insisting that Nigerian students deserved interest-free loans.
“At the moment, we have decided that we don’t want to have interest on the loans. When we consider it necessary to do that, we’ll have a discussion. It’s an interest-free loan. Nigerians deserve an interest-free loan,” he said.
Sawyerr also downplayed calls for conversion of the loans into grants, arguing that beneficiaries at the tertiary education level understood the financial implications of borrowing and should be prepared to repay after securing employment.
He said, “I understand that, at the end of the day, people only value things that they pay for, while just giving people money because it’s education, at the tertiary level.
“Most of the people we’re dealing with are adults, and these adults understand that they’re getting an education so they can make a living, and they’re quite happy to borrow in order to pay back.”
On concerns about the sustainability of the fund, Sawyerr said loan recovery was only one of several sources of financing available to NELFUND, adding that the fund could also generate revenue through investments, donations and statutory allocations.
He argued that educating more young Nigerians would eventually expand the country’s tax base and provide additional resources for funding education.
He said, “Recovery is very important for the funds, but it’s not our only source of sustaining the NELFUND. We have other sources. We’re able to raise funds. We’re able to invest the funds that we have. We’re able to receive donations.
“But I think, most importantly, if we get our students, our youth, educated and empowered, there will be a larger tax base, more money will be collected from the taxation system, and it will be used, given the approach of this government, to fund education further, including NELFUND.”
The NELFUND boss disclosed that some beneficiaries had already started repaying their loans, while several Nigerians had indicated interest in supporting the fund by paying the fees of other students.
He said the government should adopt a holistic approach to education financing rather than depend solely on loan repayments to sustain the scheme.
On the concerns raised by experts about the absence of a clear statutory funding arrangement, Sawyerr maintained that NELFUND was already covered under the development levy.
“We are already provided for in the development levy. We get 15 per cent of the four per cent in the development levy. That’s an amount of money that is shared amongst those who are entitled to it, including NELFUND. That has already been provided for,” he said.
Credit: Punchng
