In just one week since its launch, the Federal Government’s student loan scheme has received applications from over 35,000 individuals. This was disclosed by Akintunde Sawyerr, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Sawyerr revealed that more than 60,000 people have registered on the education loan platform. However, only about 50% of these registrations have resulted in actual loan applications.
“So far, we’ve had 60,000 plus registrations. It’s registration; registration is not applications for loans. We’ve had about 50% of that,” he said. “So about 30,000 to 35,000 people have actually applied for loans. So, it’s about 50% of the registrations.”
Explaining the discrepancy between registrations and loan applications, Sawyerr cited issues originating from educational institutions.
“There’s a reason for that disconnect,” he noted. “The registrations are people who have been able to access the site, go and set up an account because we allow you to set up an account, username, and password. Then you’ve got a dashboard that stays with you until the end of the process. The next step is the application for the loan itself. There’s a little bit of a disconnect in that area because some of the institutions haven’t provided complete and accurate data.”
Sawyerr assured that NELFUND is actively working to resolve these issues to streamline the application process.
“The great thing is that we’ve captured 60,000 people for sure who want this loan,” he affirmed. “We’re going to work through the teething problems they have and enable them to actually apply for the loan.”
He also emphasized that the student loan application portal will remain open to the public throughout the year.
“We’ve got all year round application. We are starting this process and we want to make sure that we catch as many people who need this loan as possible. That’s what the president wants,” Sawyerr stated.