By Alice Etuka, Abuja
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has said, over 60,000 students have successfully registered for the loan scheme.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NELFund, Akintunde Sawyerr stated this on Thursday, May 30, 2024 at a Post-Application Launch Press Conference held in Abuja.
Sawyerr further informed that, 30,000 applicants have successfully applied for the facility.
He also announced that the portal would be opened for students of state-owned tertiary institutions from June 25th, 2024.
The MD revealed that the site had recorded over 9.5million visitors since its launch a week ago.
He said, 90 percent of the 126 federal government owned institutions had successfully uploaded data of their students.
Addressing journalists on Thursday, Sawyerr said, “Since the launch of our student loan application portal last Friday for students in Federal institutions of higher learning, we have witnessed an extraordinary surge in applications, with over 60,000 submissions since inception. The overwhelming response serves as a testament to the critical need for financial assistance among our student population, and we remain committed to addressing this urgent demand.
“To ensure efficient application processing, we are pleased to report that over 90percent of Federal Institutions of higher learning have submitted their students’ data to NELFUND.
“However, we urge the remaining two Federal Universities and five federal polytechnics to expedite the process to ensure that all eligible students can access our financial support.
“In line with our commitment to democratize higher education, we are excited to announce that NELFUND will commence accepting applications from students attending state-owned tertiary institutions in three weeks. We request all state institutions submit their students’ data immediately, as requested, to facilitate a smooth and seamless application process”.
Recall that the Fund had said 1.2million students from federal government-owned universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and technical colleges were expected to benefit from the first phase of the scheme.
The agency, also hinted that it would launch a comprehensive skills acquisition programme for youth with practical, market-relevant skills in the next six months.
