By Charles Maduka
The National Association of Polytechnic Students has given the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) board five days to explain how student loans have been shared.
This comes after allegations surfaced that some schools, working with certain banks, have been deducting money illegally from student loans. The National Orientation Agency first raised the alarm, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission later said that out of N100 billion released by NELFUND, only N71 billion could be accounted for.
Angered by the reports, members of the National Association of Nigerian Students staged a protest on Monday, blocking the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
In a statement signed by NAPS President Eshiofune Oghayan and Senate President Oyewumi Ayomide, the association demanded transparency from NELFUND.
“We issue a five-day ultimatum to the NELFUND board to publicly provide detailed breakdown of how funds were disbursed. Specific figures showing how polytechnic students benefited,” the statement read.
NAPS also threatened to take action if their demand is ignored. According to them, they will Organise mass protests involving 0.9% of Nigeria’s 28.1 million students, Submit petitions to the DSS and EFCC, and Use all democratic means to seek justice.
In response to the controversy, NELFUND Managing Director Akintunde Sawyerr denied that any money was missing.
“We are all looking for this so-called money. First of all, let me be very clear. No money has been stolen,” he said in an interview on Channels TV.
He explained that the student loan program was created by the President to help students who can’t afford education and insisted that any confusion may have come from human errors during the loan process.
“No money is missing. No money has been stolen. There had been some issues with what happened at the phase of this where human intervention comes in,” he added.
Leave a Reply