The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has identified N927.98 million in unpaid upkeep allowances owed to 11,685 students following a reconciliation exercise after the 2024/2025 academic session.
The Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the progress, impact, and challenges of the student loan scheme.
Sawyerr attributed the arrears to technical and operational issues such as failed transactions, network downtime, and unvalidated bank details
What he said
According to him, the fund has received 1,361,011 applications since inception, with 864,798 students already benefiting.
“As of today. 1,361,011 applications have been received, 864,798 students have so far benefited from the loan scheme, and a total disbursement stands at N161.97 billion,” he said.
“These include N89.94 billion paid directly to 263 tertiary institutions for tuition and institutional fees, and N72.03 billion paid directly to students as upkeep allowances,” he added.
Sawyerr said the figures reflected the tangible impact of the scheme on students and families, describing them as clear evidence that financial barriers were being removed and opportunities created.
On the unpaid upkeep arrears, Sawyerr explained that the issue was not due to withheld funds or policy failure but linked to operational challenges such as network downtime, failed transactions, and unvalidated bank account details.
“After the 2024/2025 academic session revealed that 11,685 students had outstanding upkeep payments amounting to N927.98 million,” he said
He said management had approved a one-time reconciliation process involving direct engagement with affected students, a grace period to update bank details, multi-layer validation, and payment once verification is completed.
Student data validation
Also speaking at the briefing, the Executive Director of Operations at NELFUND, Mustapha Iyal, said the outstanding upkeep payments represented a small fraction of beneficiaries from the more than 400,000 students covered during the 2024/2025 academic session.
He explained that the fund had contacted tertiary institutions to validate student data, noting that many of the issues stemmed from incorrect information submitted by applicants.
According to him, feedback has already been received from over 100 institutions, and payment of the outstanding upkeep allowances is expected to commence shortly.
Iyal also disclosed that applications for the 2025/2026 academic session opened in November 2025, with over 200 institutions submitting student data, resulting in about 280,000 applications and loan disbursements to more than 150,000 students.
On loan repayment, Iyal said repayment had already commenced, with some beneficiaries who had graduated and secured employment beginning to repay their loans
More insights
The NELFUND managing director said the agency was also exploring partnerships with philanthropists, corporate organisations, and government agencies, citing a N20 billion collaboration with the Ministry of Education on Technical and Vocational Education and Training as an example.
Sawyerr said several reforms had strengthened the long-term viability of the scheme.
These include the amended student loan law, the removal of guarantor requirements, the inclusion of upkeep allowances, and the fund’s ability to raise and invest resources.
The agency has spent the past year engaging with students, school authorities, and stakeholders to raise awareness and improve access to its loan scheme.
The agency plans to expand this outreach to parents, guardians, traditional rulers, and faith-based institutions to strengthen public understanding and trust.
What you should know
- NELFUND’s student loan programme has seen strong engagement from school authorities, with more than 200 tertiary institutions submitting updated student data for the 2025/2026 academic session.
- Nairametrics reported that the University of Maiduguri led in applications with 85,050, followed by Bayero University, Kano, with 54,419, Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, with 50,737, Ahmadu Bello University with 46,663, and the University of Ilorin with 44,735.
- The Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, explained that private university students are temporarily excluded due to high fees, limited data on student financial capacity, and funding constraints, but they are not permanently left out.
