• State varsities to access loan June 25
• Site receives 9.5m visitors in one week
Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has said over 60,000 students have successfully registered for the student loan scheme.
Out of this number, 30,000 applicants have successfully applied for the facility.
This is even as it announced that the portal would be opened for students of state-owned tertiary institutions from June 25, 2024.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Fund, Akintunde Sawyerr, stated this, yesterday, in Abuja at a Post-Application Launch press conference.
The MD also revealed that the site had recorded over 9.5 million visitors since its launch a week ago.
He said 90 per cent of the 126 Federal Government-owned institutions had successfully uploaded data of their students.
Recall that the Fund had said 1.2 million students from Federal Government-owned universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and technical colleges were expected to benefit from the first phase of the scheme.
Addressing journalists, yesterday, 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 90 per cent 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.”
He added: “In line with our commitment to democratising 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 to submit their students’ data immediately, as requested, to facilitate a smooth and seamless application process”.
The agency, he said, would launch a comprehensive skills acquisition programme for youths with practical, market-relevant skills in the next six months.
