NELFUND Loan Doesn’t Tie Students To Nigeria, Says MD Sawyerr

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has reassured students that they will be free to travel abroad after graduation if they receive loans under the student loan scheme.

Managing Director and Chief Executive of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, clarified this during a sensitisation programme at Edo University, Iyamho, while responding to students’ worries about possible travel restrictions.

Sawyerr emphasised that the law establishing NELFUND does not impose travel restrictions on beneficiaries.

“The law that set up the Nigerian Education Loan Fund does not limit your ability to go and look for work wherever you want. You are not tied. It doesn’t say you cannot leave Nigeria because you have a loan with us. You can go wherever you want to go in the world. It is not possible for you to say that I can’t travel around the world,” Sawyerr stated.

He suggested that students ought to take responsibility for repaying their loans, regardless of whether they find employment outside of Nigeria or not. “I think the right and proper thing to do, if you have a loan in Nigeria and you want to get a job somewhere else, is to pay the loan yourself back to your country,” he added.

Sawyerr encouraged students to embrace the scheme, highlighting its unique benefits compared to other types of loans.

“I want you to embrace it and I want you to act upon it because, if you miss this opportunity, it’s one that will affect generations. You know why? Because NELFUND is different from all other types of loans. It is the only loan you can take to acquire something that can never be taken away from you,” he explained.

According to him, the repayment structure is interest-free, even if repayments extend over a decade.

Sawyerr also provided updates on the disbursement process, revealing that NELFUND is prepared to distribute N135 billion once all applications were processed.

“We have received about 520,000 registrations and about 419,000 applications. We have processed and paid 261,000 students. Both upkeep and institutional fees.

“Our total exposure today, if we were to pay everybody that has applied, is somewhere in the region of N135 billion. But we have not processed all those people. We have got the money and we are ready in case all of them get processed. We can disburse N135 billion,” he disclosed.