By Anwar Usman

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund, an intervention agency set up by the Federal Government, projected on Tuesday, that the beneficiaries of student loans may hit an estimated 2.1 million.

This was disclosed by the managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, at the inauguration and induction of members of the SERVICOM unit and committee in Abuja.

His projection comes one week after data obtained from NELFUND showed that it has disbursed over N104bn to 613,734 students from Nigerian tertiary institutions since the program kicks off.

The disbursed funds comprises institutional fees paid directly to the institutions of applicants and upkeep loans paid directly to the account number provided by the applicants.

While addressing journalists in Abuja, Sawyerr explained that with the admission of about 400,000 new entrants this year, the Fund may be expecting its total number of registrants to reach 2.1 million students.

He further explained that, “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.”

However, when asked if the Fund would also address the plight of the over 20 million out-of-school children in the country, Sawyerr dismissed the notion.According to him, the loan scheme is strictly for students in tertiary institutions in line with the building principles and law.

He added, “When you look at the Act that set up NELFund, it is very specific that it is for tertiary education. So, while we recognise that there may be 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, the law only instruct us to address those who are studying or about to start the course of tertiary institutions owned by the Federal Government and sub nationals.”

On the other hand, the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of SERVICOM, Mrs Nnenna Akajemeli, called for teamwork and cooperation among the inductees to make the student loan process a seamless one for the beneficiaries.

SERVICOM is a Federal Government initiative to promote effective and efficient delivery in ministries, departments and agencies to ensure customer satisfaction and manage performance.

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