May 05, (THEWILL) – The controversy surrounding the disbursement of billions of naira to eligible students in Nigerian tertiary institutions as loans by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) continued Sunday with the Fund and the National Orientation Agency, NOA, accusing at least 50 institutions of scamming students by making illegal deductions ranging from ₦3,500 to ₦30,000 through a so-called “Students’ institutional fees”, before the monies are paid to the beneficiaries.
NELFUND was set up by the President Bola Tinubu administration in April 2024 to provide loans to students in public tertiary institutions.
Following reported complaints by beneficiaries and accusations of unlawful deductions by some tertiary institutions with the collusion of banks, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, launched a full-scale investigation into the scheme.
THEWILL reports that though the ICPC investigation is yet to establish any pattern of fraud in the disbursements because it is still an ongoing investigation, the Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr on Sunday denied that N71.2 billion was misappropriated or stolen as being speculated.
He, however, confirmed that “There is an ongoing investigation to unravel the mystery behind the allegation of delayed payments and, in some cases, money not reaching the genuine beneficiaries.”
Speaking during a news programme on television, the NELFUND chief said: “We are all looking for this so-called money. First, let me be very clear. No money has been stolen. The President, in his wisdom and well-intentioned programme, decided that he was going to set up the Nigerian Education Loan Fund. So, the funds that we’ve been given is to bridge the gap for those who do not have the money to be able to attain the education. No money is missing, no money has been stolen. There had been some issues with what happened at the phase of this where human intervention comes in.”
Sawyerr revealed that his agency had so far received N203 billion contrary to the N100 billion being speculated. According to him, the funds comprised receipts of N10 billion from the Ministry of Finance through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, N50 billion from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and N143 billion from TETFund.
“Out of that, N54bn has been disbursed to date while N30bn and N24bn had gone to institutions and for upkeep respectively. So, there’s a pocket money side to this. That’s N54bn disbursed already in the space of about 11 and a half months. It’s in the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he added.
Insisting that some of the schools indicted over the illegal deductions have started refunding the monies, he said, “It’s not acceptable. Students should not be exploited in this way.”
Meanwhile, two universities implicated in the alleged scam, Modibbo Adama University, Yola, Adamawa State, and the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, FUOYE, Ekiti State, at the weekend, responded to the indictment. MAU tried to put a spin on the development by claiming that it had started refunding the “institutional fees” to students who have already received the loan, adding that this does not mean it made deductions from the students’ loan.
According to the Information Officer of the institution, Muhammad Nur Isma’il, about 300 students were involved and that refund delays were caused by inconsistencies in account details, warranting physical verification.
He said, “The delay from both batches (Batch A and B) was about 300 students, and refunds are ongoing. It was delayed due to some inconsistencies noted with account details on the process, which resulted in calling for physical verification.”
On its part, FUOYE through its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Foluso Ogunmodede also described the allegations as false and an attempt to tarnish the university’s reputation.
He said, “Once the payment enters our account and is reconciled with the list of beneficiaries, we will begin refunds immediately even as none of our fees structure is N124k. The allegation is false and nobody has contacted us.”
Speaking on the controversy, the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke called for outright conversion of the Fund from a loan scheme to grants, arguing that apart from the potential corruption facing the programme, like many public institutions, the student beneficiaries may end up not getting jobs to enable them pay back.
Recounting how the first and second loan schemes in 1992 and early 2000, respectively, failed because of corruption, the ASUU leader wondered why a government that could spend over N90n billion on religious pilgrimage would find it hard to give unconditional grants to students.
“Which issue should the government have prioritised between education or religion.?. That is why we said our political leaders always give priority to issues that are less important,” he said.
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