NELFUND Denies Allegation of Favouring Children of APC Members

By Divine Wariboko

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has dismissed as “completely ridiculous” claims that the Federal Government’s student loan scheme favours children of All Progressives Congress (APC) members, adding that the electronic application process makes such bias impossible.

Sawyerr made the remarks during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.

“How, in any event, do we determine who is a party member and who isn’t? Even if you are running a manual process, how do you do that? You can’t,” he said.

“It’s unlikely to yield you any result.”

He said that many of the scheme’s beneficiaries were students, some of whom had never voted before or were voting for the first time, and that a large number of applicants held no party affiliation at all.

Sawyerr noted that the application process was built around clear, objective criteria rather than discretion.

According to him, applicants must apply online, submitting basic details such as their full name and matriculation number, and must be enrolled in a public tertiary institution to qualify.

He further stressed that the system does not factor in an applicant’s religion, gender, ethnicity, or other personal characteristics, reinforcing his broader point that political bias would be technically impossible to build into the process.

He also described the demand for the scheme as “overwhelming,” disclosing that NELFUND had disbursed ₦162 billion in upkeep allowances, a development he linked to a reported 20 per cent drop in student dropout rates.

On repayment, he said beneficiaries would pay back loans based on their ability to do so, adding that funds reportedly recovered by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in connection with the scheme had not yet been received by NELFUND.