The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has disclosed plans to link its site with the portals of institutions to address the unnecessary delay in verification of students who apply for loans.
The Executive Director, Operations of the Fund, Mustapha Iyal made this known during the NELFUND sensitisation programme for all tertiary institutions in Kwara State held at the University of Ilorin.
He attributed some of the delays in the verification and subsequent disbursement of loans to students to slow response from institutions, adding that with the new development loan applicants would complete the process as they register in their respective institutions.
Sharing more insight on the update, Iyal said, “We observed that one of the problems we are having is the problem of verification. So what NELFUND is trying to do is that we want to engage the institutions directly by linking the NELFUND activities on the institutional portals so by doing that when a student is trying to do registration in school, they can select whether they want to pay via NELFUND, cash or other means.
“So if the student opts to pay with NELFUND, they will fill in the application with their details which are already on the institutional portals so they don’t have to go to the NELFUND portal. That is the kind of portal we are looking at. We want to create a synergy.”
Speaking further on complaints raised by students of beneficiary institutions in Kwara state, the NELFUND top official said the Fund has commenced work on issues raised.
“On the issues raised by the students, we are working on ways to make the whole process seamless. We have already started working on the issues. We work 24 hours and we are always there for the student.”
Also speaking, the newly appointed representative of students on the NELFUND board, Umar Faruk Lawal hailed the move by the administration of President Bola Tinubu to establish the student loan initiative.
According to Faruk, the move will further encourage indigent students to have access to higher education.
“One of the campaign promises of the President is the student loan and I am happy to say that the student loan fund is here to stay. Nigerians can now get to understand that children of nobodies can now access higher education easily.
“With access to student loan, everyone now has the ease to go to school.”
He noted that the sensitisation programme was to ensure that doubts and misgivings among students about the loan scheme are clarified, stressing that intention President Tinubu was to see that no one is left behind in acquiring tertiary education on the account of resources.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, who was represented by Prof. Adegboyega Adisa Fawole, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Management Services, said the sensitisation programme was timely.
He disclosed that of over 55,000 students of the University, only about 11,000 have applied for the loan because a lot of them have expressed reservations which the visit of the NELFUND management has helped to demystified.
He commended the efforts being made by NELFUND to simplify the registration and verification processes to make the loan easily accessible by students.
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