3,000 FUNAAB’s Students Get NELFUND Loans

The management of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), disclosed on Wednesday that over 3,000 students of the institution have benefitted from the National Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) initiative introduced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s federal government.

FUNAAB’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Olushola Babatunde Kehinde, disclosed this while addressing journalists in Abeokuta during a press conference to herald the institution’s 32nd Convocation Ceremony.

The VC also disclosed that 120 out of 3 567 undergraduate FUNAAB students will graduate with a First Class Degree at the institution’s 32nd convocation ceremony, slated for next Saturday, January 25th, 2025.

Kehinde revealed that NELFUND remitted a total of over N133. 995 million was the first batch payment of school fees for 1,300 FUNAAB students for the 2024 academic session. The institution was still awaiting payment for an additional 1,638 students as the second batch, bringing the total to 3,000 students.

FUNAAB VC’s revelation comes barely 72 hours after the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) lamented the low enrollment of Southern students’ patronage of the NELFUND, a pivotal financial institution established by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led federal government under the Students Loan Act 2024.

“We first received N133,995,450 million for 1,300 students’ school fees for the 2024 academic session. We are currently waiting for 1,638, making over 3,000 FUNAAB students with access to NELFUND.”

“We received this fund in the university’s Treasury Single Account (TSA), and we initially couldn’t understand from where the money came and what it was meant for, but later got an email from NELFUND telling us that it was meant for the school fees of “your students who applied for the loan.

“We encouraged them, gave them information, and we expect more even for this session. So, we can say that in FUNAAB, NELFUND is working, and we are happy about that”.