The South East caucus of the National Assembly has expressed alarm over the exclusion of tertiary institutions in the region from the ongoing disbursement of student loans by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). According to the lawmakers, despite N2.95 billion being allocated to 27,667 students across 19 institutions nationwide, none of the beneficiaries are from universities or colleges in the South East.
NELFUND has attributed the absence of South East students on the beneficiary list to the lack of response from the region’s institutions to its requests for student list verification. The verification process is a crucial step before disbursement can take place. While verification requests were sent to all schools, those in the South East have not yet complied, leading to the exclusion of their students from the loan distribution.
In response, the South East caucus, in a statement released on Sunday and signed by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and Igariwey Enwo, urged tertiary institutions in the region to promptly complete the verification process. They emphasized the importance of ensuring that students from the South East are not left out of this federal initiative, which is intended to alleviate financial burdens and enhance access to higher education.
The statement read: “We also wish to encourage all South East students who need this support to ensure they apply. This is important as it can help ameliorate some of the challenges limiting access to higher education, which we must all agree is critical to self-development and growth. It is important that as a people, we do not intentionally marginalize ourselves from opportunities that are open to all Nigerians. Those opportunities are our right, and we must, like others, demand what rightfully belongs to us.”