UI confirms receipt of over N201m in NELFund loan for 1370 students

The University of Ibadan (UI) says it has received the sum of N201,114,650 from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund).

Joke Akinpelu, the university’s PR director, spoke to NAN on Tuesday in Ibadan.

She said the funds cover 1,370 students of the institution who sought student loans for the 2023/2024 academic session.

An internal memo, dated August 9, also confirmed that the money was paid into the institution’s account.

The memo, signed by the institution’s registrar Ganiyu Saliu and addressed to the dean of students, said that the bursary department is processing the fund.

He said this is to enable the concerned students to obtain a “smart receipt”.

The registrar said the funding is for only those whose application for the NELFUND loan was approved.

“Any student who is a beneficiary of the NELFUND loan and has already paid levies for the session fee is entitled to a refund,” the memo reads in part.

“To apply for a refund, the student must write through the dean of students to the deputy vice-chancellor of academics, providing their account details for the refund.

“A photocopy of the original payment receipt must be attached to each application.”

President Bola Tinubu enacted an initial version of the student loan policy in June 2023 to grant interest-free loans to students.

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 subsequent rollout.

As of August 2, NELFUND said it had disbursed over N2.5 billion for over 22,120 applicants in the student loan scheme.