Nigeria’s new student loan programme has quickly become one of the most closely watched education support schemes in the country.
Since its rollout, the portal has recorded a sharp rise in applications, with a total interest-free successful loan application of 451,535 in October 2025.
This highlights how Nigerian students are responding to the opportunity for tuition and upkeep support.
The surge in applications is happening at a time when families are grappling with rising living costs, increased fees across public universities, and broader economic pressures. For many students, the loan scheme has become a crucial pathway to staying enrolled and managing day-to-day expenses.
The programme has already disbursed over N116 billion to support both tuition and upkeep allowances, less than two years after its launch on May 24, 2024.
These numbers offer a new way to understand the extent to which students rely on government-backed support to complete their studies. This report breaks down the top ten institutions with the highest number of applications as of October 23, 2025.
Below is a breakdown of the top 10 institutions by total applications from May 2024 to October 2025:
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), established in 1962, is a federal research institution based in Zaria, Kaduna State.
According to its own data, the total student enrollment in the university’s degree and sub-degree programs is about 35,000. The institution has 18 faculties and 110 departments, with 2,939 academic staff and 641 professors.
For the NELFUND student loan scheme, ABU recorded 46,663 total applications, of which 23,004 students received the upkeep support.
The university ranked 6th best university in Nigeria and 1201–1500th globally in the Times Higher Education 2026 World University Rankings.
So in summary
The northern universities benefits more of this Nelfund than the East and south.. not even unilag or Unizik was mentioned
What has happened to the three geopolitical zones in the southeast, southwest and South-South of Nigeria. This zones which are educationally advanced failed to be captured in this narrative. I hope this is not another step to slow down the southern part of Nigeria.