The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) says it plans to start entertaining loan application from students attending state-owned tertiary institutions on June 25.
The Managing Director, NELFUND, Mr Akintunde Sawyerr said this at a news conference on the Post-Application Launch in Abuja on Thursday.
Sawyerr also said that over 60,000 students from federal tertiary institutions had successfully registered since the application launch.
He said from this application, 30,000 had successfully applied for the loan, saying however, no approval had been granted so far.
“Since the launch of our student loan application portal last Friday for students in Federal institutions of higher learning, we have witnessed an extraordinary surge in applications, with over 60,000 submissions since inception.
“The overwhelming response serves as a testament to the critical need for financial assistance among our student population, and we remain committed to addressing this urgent demand.
“In line with our commitment to democratise higher education, we are excited to announce that NELFUND will commence accepting applications from students attending state-owned tertiary institutions in three weeks,” he said.
He added that over 90 per cent of federal institutions had so far submitted their students’ details to NELFUND.
He encouraged the remaining two federal universities and five federal polytechnics to expedite the process to ensure that all eligible students have access to its financial support.
He urged all state institutions to submit their students’ data immediately, as requested, to facilitate a smooth and seamless application process.
Sawyerr added that the Fund would also launch the skill acquisition programme six months from today.
He said the skills programme was designed to prepare students to meet the demands of market through fostering entrepreneurship of the young people.
“Beyond financial assistance, NELFUND recognises the profound importance of equipping our youth with practical, market-relevant skills.
“Six months from today, we will launch a comprehensive skills acquisition programme, providing training in various vocational and technical fields.
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“This programme is designed to prepare students to meet the demands of the modern job market, fostering entrepreneurship and innovation among our young people.
“We are going to be working with existing centres in the right standard to give the right level of training to Nigerians,” he added.
Speaking on the challenges being faced, Sawyerr said no ICT platform was devoid of challenges saying however, that the Fund had been able to address challenges being experienced by applicants. (NAN)
