Successful students loan applicants are set to receive a total of N35 billion in fees and monthly upkeep allowances.
The successful applicants, who are students of federal government-owned tertiary institutions across the country, were drawn from the pool of 120,000 applicants who sent in their applications as of Friday, 21 June.
Successful candidates can check their dashboards on the agency’s portal to know the status of their applications.
The spokesman for NELFUND, Nasir Ayitogo, said the agency was working hard to fulfil its mandate of bringing smiles to the faces of indigent Nigerian students, who he said are eager to benefit from the initiative as approved by President Bola Tinubu.
Each applicant’s status is expected to show the processes of verification up till when approved or denied, and when the funds are eventually disbursed.
The agency sources said various applicants will have their fees charged by their institutions paid directly into the institutions’ bank accounts.
The fees to be paid, according to sources who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES, will be the total of fees payable by students based on their courses of study which could include other sundry fees such as departmental levies, laboratory fees, and health insurance fees, among others.
One of the sources, who does not want to be quoted for lacking the authority to speak on the matter, said: “What is clear is that when the fees for these 70,000 applicants were summed up, they amounted to N35 billion and this will be paid this week.
“The applicants will also receive a monthly allowance for their upkeep.”
The sources said the school fees will be paid to different institutions only at the beginning of the sessions, “so the funds wouldn’t be paid for all at the same time.”
Sources have also confirmed that the agency has concluded plans to pay N20,000 every month to all the successful applicants for every year of their studentship.
“This amount will total N240,000 per year, but to be qualified in the next year, the applicant will have to reapply because it is a refundable loan and not a gift,” another source said.
The source clarified that whether the beneficiaries’ schools are in session or not, the N20,000 upkeep allowance will be paid every month to allow for their upkeep even while at home.
According to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, the funds will be disbursed based on the timetable and calendars of the academic session of each institution.
He said: “The funds will be disbursed based on the timetable and calendars of the academic session of each institution. The portal for students to apply for the loan opened on May 24, 2024.
“The portal will be permanently open because institutions don’t have a uniform calendar,” Sawyerr added.
No fewer than 1.2 million students are expected to benefit from the cardinal programme of the Tinubu administration.
