NELFund gets N2m repayment from beneficiary of 1970s student loan regime

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) has received N2 million in repayment from a beneficiary of the federal government’s 1970s student loan regime.

Monalisa Dike, the fund’s director of corporate communications, said Asiwaju Adegboyega Solomon Awomolo (SAN), a legal practitioner, made the payment for a loan he took in the 1975/1976 and 1976/1977 academic sessions.

Awomolo took the loan during his undergraduate studies at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).

He said the loan, which amounted to N1,000 for both sessions at the time, was instrumental in helping him complete his law degree.

In a letter dated 04/09/24 and addressed to Akintunde Sawyerr, the MD of NELFund, Awomolo said he was unable to fulfil his repayment obligation despite several attempts until the establishment of NELFund.

He said the repayment of N2 million, adjusted for currency devaluation, serves as the full and final settlement of his loan indebtedness.

Awomolo’s repayment comes after Lanre Laoshe, a former house of representatives member, similarly repaid his student loan debt incurred between 1976 and 1979.

Nigeria’s first attempt at a student loan scheme came in 1972 with Decree No. 25 creating the Nigerian Students Loans Board (NSLB).

By 1991, the NSLB had awarded loans amounting to about N46 million, of which only N6 million (13 percent) was recovered.

Joseph Chuta, former executive secretary of the board, had said the defaulters exploited loopholes in the decree to evade responsibility.

He had said NSLB struggled to enforce repayment because of the widespread perception that the loan scheme was a “national cake”.

Due to this, Decree No. 12 of 1988 was promulgated to decentralise the process of award and loan recovery by establishing zonal offices.

However, the administrative changes yielded little results as no evidence showed the loan scheme functioned any better in recovery.