The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced that its upkeep loan scheme will now strictly align with the academic calendar of higher institutions across the country.
The directive was contained in a statement released on Thursday by the agency’s Director of Corporate Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, who explained that students would only be entitled to upkeep payments within their academic session.
“In line with this directive, students shall only be entitled to upkeep loans for their current academic session. Upon the conclusion of an institution’s academic year, upkeep payments for that session shall automatically cease. Consequently, students who transition into a new academic year will no longer receive upkeep disbursements for the preceding session,” Oluwatuyi clarified.
He further stressed that applicants are required to reapply at the beginning of every academic session to benefit from both tuition-related institutional loans and monthly upkeep stipends.
“To ensure accuracy and transparency, the NELFUND loan portal is being automated to reflect this adjustment. The portal will henceforth display only the upkeep loans that have been collected by each student within the relevant session. Institutions are therefore strongly advised to upload their academic calendars and sessional information in a timely manner to guarantee that their students receive the full upkeep benefits due to them for an entire academic year,” the statement read.
Currently, student beneficiaries receive a monthly upkeep disbursement of N20,000, amounting to N240,000 annually. With the new directive, this stipend will only be available during academic sessions, while disbursement will be suspended during school breaks or holidays.
okaynews.com reports that NELFUND’s adjustment is part of an effort to ensure efficiency, accountability, and transparency in the loan disbursement process.
