Since the official launch of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) in May, more than 419,849 students have registered for the loan program.
Akintunde Sawyerr, managing director, NELFUND disclosed this at the inauguration and induction of members of the Servicom Unit and committee on Tuesday in Abuja.
Sawyerr disclosed that out of the over 400,000 registrations, 319,161 students successfully completed applications for the loan.
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“We have about 419,000 students who have registered on our portals and about 320,000 who have actually applied. Some have been processed, many have been looked at and most of them will get the loan,” he stated.
He explained that with the admission of about 400,000 new entrants this year, the Fund may be anticipating its total number of registrants to reach 2.1 million students.
He said, “For the people we are responsible for in tertiary institutions that are government-owned such as polytechnics, universities and colleges of education and the bulk of students who will be coming in for the next session, we have estimated our commitment today to these people is somewhere in the range of 2.1m.
“It is an estimate and it gets bigger than that when we start our skills programme. That is because there we have a lot more. We are expecting that about 400,000 students will be starting this new session.”
The Managing Director disclosed that the fund has approved a new batch of student’s loan worth N110 billion, to be disbursed soon.
He stated that 60 percent of the funds were to be paid directly to the institutions to cover the fees of the students, while 40 percent will be sent directly to the students for upkeep.
Speaking to the Servicom members, Sawyerr urged that they view every feedback as positive and work to be better in service delivery.
Earlier, Nnenna Akajemeli, National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of SERVICOM, called for teamwork and cooperation among the inductees to make the student loan process a seamless one for the beneficiaries.
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SERVICOM is a Federal Government initiative to promote effective and efficient delivery in ministries, departments and agencies to ensure customer satisfaction and manage performance.
She said, “Wherever Nigerian students go, they stand out. So we need to continue encouraging them. It is also our job to build the skills of public servants for excellent service delivery.
“I want to appreciate NELFUND because it has been in constant touch with the SERVICOM office to ensure this programme is a success. For you to go fast, you can walk alone. But to go far, NELFUND needs to walk together as a team.”
