An illustrative photo of university students.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) says it has disbursed over N2.5 billion in the student loan scheme.
Nasir Ayitogo, media head at the fund, said on Friday that the disbursement covers institutional fees and stipends for monthly upkeep.
He said a total of six institutions with active academic calendars have been paid, with six others scheduled for the coming week.
Ayitogo said the disbursement, amounting to N2,530,235,750, has so far benefited 22,120 students.
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He said a total of N442,400,000 has been allocated as upkeep allowance to the applicants for July.
“NELFund believes that these disbursements will significantly ease the financial burdens on students and their families, enabling them to focus on their studies and future careers,” Ayitogo said.
President Bola Tinubu enacted an initial version of the student loan policy in June 2023 to grant interest-free loans to students.
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The scheme was to commence in October 2023 but implementation was repeatedly deferred until a re-enactment in April 2024.
NELFund opened the loan application portal on May 24, at which time a pilot phase to serve federal tertiary institutions began.
The fund said the scheme would be open to state-owned tertiary institutions in its second rollout.
Over 110,000 had applied for the scheme as of mid-July, with more than 160,000 students having registered on the NELFund portal.
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