[REVISION HISTORY]

Nigeria NELFUND student loan program

Updated 4 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-09-10 05:29 UTC → 2026-09-10 05:30 UTC · added ~~removed~~

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has disbursed N355.87 billion in student loans since its portal launched in May 2024. As of September 2026, the fund has processed approximately 1.66 million applications, with N192.89 billion paid to institutions for tuition and N162.98 billion provided to students for upkeep. Managing Director Akintunde Sawyerr noted that the fund is exploring various financing channels to ensure sustainability, including the potential use of recovered public funds such as unclaimed dividends and dormant accounts. The program is a zero-interest facility where repayments begin two years after the completion of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Under the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, repayment is only required once a beneficiary is gainfully employed, with monthly deductions capped at 10 per cent of gross income. NELFUND has dismissed viral claims suggesting that students who default on loans face life imprisonment, labeling doctored images of President Bola Tinubu announcing such penalties as “fake news.” Concerns regarding the program’s long-term viability have been raised by the iRead To Live ~~Initiative. The think tank~~ Initiative, which warned that the N355.87 billion disbursed to roughly 850,000 beneficiaries faces significant recovery risks. To mitigate this, the group recommended that the Federal Government integrate NELFUND with Nigeria Revenue Service data to better track graduates in the informal economy and the self-employed, noting that current employer-based deductions may be insufficient. In September 2026, the scheme faced ~~further~~ scrutiny following remarks by Mrs. Oluremi ~~Tinubu. She~~ Tinubu, who suggested ~~that NELFUND~~ beneficiaries could “start small” by engaging in petty trading, such as selling akara and kuli kuli, to support themselves. ~~This~~ Vice President Kashim Shettima has ~~sparked~~ defended the fund as a “landmark initiative” and a “vital social equalizer” designed to alleviate poverty by removing financial barriers to higher education. However, critics continue to debate ~~over~~ whether a loan-based system is the ~~burden of financing~~ appropriate response to an affordability crisis driven by inadequate public investment in the education ~~should fall on students through loans, particularly given Nigeria’s natural resource wealth.~~ sector.

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