The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has declared that Nigerian students studying abroad will not be eligible for the newly introduced student loan program.
Allnaijadiaspora.com reports that Akintunde Sawyerr, the Managing Director of NELFUND, made this announcement on Friday.
The Access to Higher Education Act, 2023, which was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on June 12, is designed to provide interest-free loans to financially disadvantaged students attending tertiary institutions within Nigeria.
This initiative supports Tinubu’s campaign promise to enhance education funding. Dele Alake, a member of the former Presidential Strategy Team, emphasized the significance of this legislation in making education more accessible.
After a briefing from NELFUND, led by the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, on January 22, the President directed the Fund to offer interest-free loans to students enrolled in skill-development programs.
Despite initial delays, the scheme has garnered substantial interest, with 30,000 students successfully registering and over 60,000 individuals signing up on the NELFUND website.
However, on May 22, 2024, a group of Nigerian students at Teesside University were expelled and ordered to leave the United Kingdom due to difficulties in paying their tuition fees on time, as reported by the BBC.
The students blamed their financial difficulties on the devaluation of the naira, which affected their ability to meet financial obligations, thus breaching their visa sponsorship requirements.
Sawyerr clarified that the loan scheme is exclusively for students studying within Nigeria.
“Nigerians in Diaspora cannot benefit from the student loan. Nigerians schooling in the country are those we want to help. The law does not allow the FG to give loans to Nigerians studying abroad,” he stated.
