By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Educational Loan Fund (NELFUND) is set to begin the disbursement of the sum of N850 million as student loans to institutions as fees today (Wednesday), The Punch is reporting.
It also claimed that over N1.7 billion that has been disbursed to about 20,000 students under the scheme.
The Managing Director of the Fund, Mr Akintunde Sawyer, made this known during an ongoing press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.
“The sum of N850 million will be leaving the account of NELFUND Today to institutions. This is apart from the N1.7 billion naira that has already been disbursed.”
Mr Sawyer also revealed that the fund had disbursed institutional fees to 20,000 students through their institutions.
He also noted that a total of 260,000 loans including institutional fees and upkeep have been approved.
No fewer than 1.2 million students are expected to benefit from this cardinal programme of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The President approved N35 billion for the take-off of the scheme after signing the law backing the scheme on April 3.
So far over 90 institutions have been added to the portal for the disbursement.
The disbursement is coming at a crucial time and many groups are preparing to protest hardships across the country.