NELFUND: Institutions Hiking Fees Risk Losing Student Loan Payments

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has warned tertiary institutions against unreasonable increases in tuition fees, saying schools that hike charges unfairly risk losing access to student loan payments.

NELFUND Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Akintunde Sawyer, disclosed this during an interview on TVC News Breakfast on Wednesday.

Sawyer said some institutions had increased their fees after the introduction of the student loan scheme, but insisted that NELFUND had refused in several cases to pay what it considered unreasonable charges.

He said the agency had introduced guidelines to prevent institutions from taking advantage of increased liquidity created by the student financing programme.

“Some schools have gone out on a limb to increase their fees unfairly,” Sawyer said.

“We have addressed that by introducing some new guidelines and been very stern with the institutions whose fees have been hiked, that we will not pay fees that are unreasonable.”

According to him, some institutions subsequently reversed their increases after realising that they could lose revenue if NELFUND refused to fund the inflated fees.

Sawyer also addressed concerns over delays in students receiving upkeep allowances, saying the agency’s target was to process applications within about 45 days.

He, however, explained that actual payment could take longer because institutions must verify applicants before NELFUND releases funds.

“We look to, we target about 45 days from application to receipt of value,” he said.

NELFUND sends applications to institutions for verification after about 30 days of processing, with schools expected to complete their part within 15 days.

Sawyer acknowledged that some institutions process the applications within days, while others take longer, adding that the speed of payment was therefore not entirely within NELFUND’s control.

He said the agency currently pays upkeep allowances directly into students’ bank accounts and that between 850,000 and 900,000 students had received the allowance.

On complaints that institutions may be charging students fees to access NELFUND, Sawyer said he was not aware of such cases but warned that the agency would act against any institution found to be creating barriers to the scheme.

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“We will not allow that to happen under any circumstances,” he said.

Sawyer also defended NELFUND’s financial controls, saying more than N322 billion in public funds disbursed by the agency was fully traceable through electronic transactions.

He said no NELFUND funds were disbursed in cash, with payments to institutions and individual beneficiaries processed electronically.

According to him, the agency is subject to internal and external audits and oversight by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the National Assembly and other relevant bodies.

“We have a very robust internal system that tries to ensure that nobody, absolutely nobody, can move funds without all eyes being on it,” Sawyer said.

He added that NELFUND was also governed by data protection laws to safeguard the personal and financial information of millions of beneficiaries.

The scheme currently covers publicly owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, with Sawyer stressing that federal and state-owned polytechnics were fully covered.