NELFund Expands Student Loan Access to 22 More State-Owned Institutions

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) has cleared 22 more state-owned tertiary institutions to apply for student loans.

In a recent announcement on its official X (formerly Twitter) account, NELFund confirmed that students from these institutions are now eligible to apply for loans via its portal, nelf.gov.ng. The approval came after a review by the committee responsible for the Student Verification System.

This development raises the total number of approved state-owned institutions to 108, as 86 institutions had already been cleared earlier.

The student loan scheme is a key initiative under President Bola Tinubu’s administration. Shortly after taking office, Tinubu signed the Access to Higher Education Act, which provides a legal framework for granting loans to low-income Nigerians to help them pay for tertiary education. This legislation led to the establishment of NELFund, which is tasked with managing all aspects of the loan process, from application to disbursement and recovery.

According to the act, NELFund will be financed through multiple funding streams and will also engage in other productive activities to support its mission.