NELFUND Identifies ₦927.98 Million Unpaid Upkeep Allowances Owed to 11,685 Students

NELFUND Confirms ₦927.98m in Unpaid Upkeep Allowances The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has identified ₦927.98 million in unpaid upkeep allowances owed to 11,685 students following a reconciliation exercise conducted after the 2024/2025 academic session. The disclosure was made on Tuesday in Abuja by the Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, during a media briefing on the progress, impact, and challenges of the Federal Government’s student loan scheme. Why the Upkeep Allowances Were Not Paid According to Sawyerr, the unpaid allowances were not due to withheld funds or policy failure, but rather technical and operational challenges, including: Failed electronic transactions Network downtime Unvalidated or incorrect bank account details submitted by students “After the 2024/2025 academic session, we discovered that 11,685 students had outstanding upkeep payments amounting to ₦927.98 million,” Sawyerr explained. NELFUND Approves One-Time Reconciliation Process To resolve the issue, NELFUND management has approved a one-time reconciliation process, which includes: Direct engagement with affected students A grace period to update bank details Multi-layer data validation Immediate payment once verification is completed Payment of the outstanding allowances is expected to commence shortly after verification. NELFUND Loan Scheme Performance So Far Sawyerr revealed that since inception, the student loan scheme has recorded massive engagement: 1,361,011 applications received 864,798 students have benefited ₦161.97 billion total disbursement Breakdown of Disbursement ₦89.94 billion paid directly to 263 tertiary institutions for tuition and institutional fees ₦72.03 billion paid directly to students as upkeep allowances He described the figures as clear evidence that the scheme is removing financial barriers and expanding access to higher education in Nigeria. Student Data Validation Ongoing – NELFUND Also speaking at the briefing, Mustapha Iyal, Executive Director of Operations at NELFUND, said the unpaid upkeep allowances represent a small fraction of beneficiaries from over 400,000 students covered during the 2024/2025 session. He noted that many of the issues arose from incorrect data submitted by applicants, prompting the fund to engage tertiary institutions for verification. Feedback received from over 100 institutions Payments expected to begin soon after validation 2025/2026 Academic Session Update NELFUND confirmed that applications for the 2025/2026 academic session opened in November 2025, with strong participation: Over 200 institutions submitted student data About 280,000 applications received More than 150,000 students have already received loan disbursements Loan Repayment Has Begun NELFUND also confirmed that loan repayment has commenced, with beneficiaries who have graduated and secured employment already beginning to repay their loans. NELFUND Reforms and Future Plans Sawyerr highlighted several reforms aimed at strengthening the scheme’s long-term sustainability, including: Amendment of the Student Loan Act Removal of guarantor requirements Inclusion of upkeep allowances Authority for NELFUND to raise and invest funds The agency is also exploring partnerships with philanthropists, corporate bodies, and government institutions. One example is a ₦20 billion collaboration with the Ministry of Education focused on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Key Facts You Should Know Over 200 tertiary institutions have submitted updated data for the 2025/2026 session Top institutions by applications include: University of Maiduguri – 85,050 Bayero University, Kano – 54,419 Federal University, Dutsin-Ma – 50,737 Ahmadu Bello University – 46,663 University of Ilorin – 44,735 Private university students are temporarily excluded due to high fees, limited financial data, and funding constraints, but are not permanently excluded