The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has approved the disbursement of student loans to all successful applicants in its first rollout.
President Bola Tinubu enacted an initial version of the student loan policy in June 2023 to grant interest-free loans to students.
The scheme was to commence in October 2023 but implementation was repeatedly deferred until a re-enactment in April 2024.
NELFUND recently scheduled the opening of the pilot phase of the loan application and issuance portal for May 24.
The fund, in a statement on Thursday after its inaugural board meeting, approved the disbursement for its first rollout.
It said the approval of the loan is part of the organisation’s commitment to empowering students through financial support.
“By approving the immediate disbursement of the loans, NELFUND is taking a critical step in fulfilling its mission to support education and empower the next generation of leaders,” the fund added.
NELFUND had stated that the scheme’s pilot phase would only be open to federal tertiary institutions.
The fund also said the scheme would be open to state-owned tertiary institutions in its second rollout initially planned for June 25.
This second rollout was later postponed by 14 days to July 10 due to inadequate data.
NEFLUND said state-owned institutions failed to upload the required student and fee data to the verification system on its portal.
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