The Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, has announced plans to extend its student loan scheme to cover vocational and skills acquisition programmes.
The Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr in an interview said the extension was in alignment with the Federal Government’s broader education and skills development agenda.
He added that the move reflected President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to inclusive human capital development beyond traditional university education.
“Philosophers solely build no nation.
“It is very important to have people who can use their hands, energy, strength, and skills to put into action the clever ideas that come from those emerging from academic institutions,” he said
Sawyerr explained that, while NELFUND primarily focused on providing financial support to students in tertiary institutions since its launch, plans were underway to expand access to individuals enrolled in vocational and technical programmes across the country.
According to him, Nigeria’s next development phase requires a balance between academic and technical competence.
“At NELFUND, we have a mandate to also do vocational skills.
“We have not started yet, but I know that the President Bola Tinubu administration has ensured that there is full coverage around the skills issue.
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” The Ministry of Youth Development is doing skills; the Ministry of Education participates in skills, and the Ministry of Digital Economy participates in IT soft skills.
“So, skills are something that many departments of government have been charged with doing.
“And it is very clear that an engineer who can build, is better than an engineer who can just design.
“The stage that we are in this country now is what I would call, the design, build, and operate stage,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Fund is receiving an influx of interest from private sector organisations and philanthropists eager to partner, in financing institutional fees for students nationwide.
Sawyerr said individuals, companies, and charitable groups have expressed readiness to collaborate in expanding access to education for underprivileged Nigerians.
According to him, several private companies and wealthy Nigerians have approached NELFUND to use its platform to pay the fees of students they do not personally know.
He said the development marked a new phase of public-private collaboration in education financing.
“We have also had several people who received loans from the old scheme in the 70s who have given us cheques.
“They believe that in giving us money or paying off their loans of 50 years ago, in some cases, shows that they are having some level of trust in government,” he said
The NELFUND boss said such partnerships would help to sustain the scheme and expand its impact, particularly for indigent students who might otherwise drop out of school.
“We see this as a veritable platform to be able to pay fees using money from the government and the private sector.
“In terms of sustainability, what I can tell you is that this programme will be best sustained with public-private-partnership.
“The private sector is also going to benefit, largely by having people who are better educated to be employed into their workforce” he said
On NELFUND success story, Sawyerr said they have been able to reduce the number of people dropping out of school,
“A few people have graduated from various institutions because the Fund came to their rescue.
“You would be amazed at the number of people that were going to drop out in their final year that took advantage of the loan, and the Fund rescued them
“I think at this point, I should give credit to President Bola Tinubu for being visionary to positively affect the lives of many Nigerians,” he said.
NAN reports there are multiple funding streams, including tax, levy, government budget, and potential external grants that give NELFUND a more diverse and potentially sustainable financial base.
Under the new National Taxation Act, a four per cent development levy is imposed on company profits and NELFUND is slated to receive 25 per cent of the proceeds from this levy.
NELFUND also receives funding via the federal government’s annual budget. For example, in the 2025 budget, the government allocated ₦175.13 million to the Fund.
According to its founding legislation, NELFUND can also be funded via donations, gifts, grants, endowments, and “revenue accruing to the fund from any other source.”
The law also allows NELFUND to engage in “other productive activities” to generate income.
In August 2024, the Fund received ₦50 billion from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to help expand the loan scheme.
NAN
