Market News

• • ‘No evidence of financial misappropriation’

• • ‘System does not recognise ethnicity, connections’

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, has dismissed allegations of financial misappropriation, insisting that every naira disbursed under the student loan scheme leaves an electronic trail.

Sawyerr, said on Monday that the agency had nothing to hide regarding the management and distribution of student loan funds.

Sawyerr spoke during an interview with ARISE NEWS against the backdrop of concerns over the transparency and accountability of the agency’s operations.

He said there was “no evidence of any financial misappropriation by NELFUND,” explaining that government funding was necessary to provide capital for students seeking loans.

According to him, the electronic nature of NELFUND’s disbursement system makes it possible to track the movement of funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to beneficiary institutions and students. 

“There is no evidence of any financial misappropriation by NELFUND. The reality of it is that in order for people to take a loan, there has to be some capital they can draw on,” he said.

Sawyerr linked the government’s funding of NELFUND to the redirection of resources towards welfare programmes following the removal of fuel subsidy.

He cited the recent disbursement of more than N1 billion to the University of Ibadan as an example of the transparency of the system.

According to him, institutional fees are transferred directly to the accounts of beneficiary institutions, while students’ upkeep allowances are paid directly into their personal bank accounts.

“The University of Ibadan students, before NELFUND, probably had a very high dropout rate because they just didn’t have access to capital to go to school.

“Now, the President introduced NELFUND; we paid, I believe, over a billion naira to the University of Ibadan recently. And those funds are transferred directly to the institution. So, where is the opacity in that?” he asked.

He added: “The transfers of money are done electronically. It’s entirely traceable.

“The money leaves the Central Bank of Nigeria and goes either to the institution, the University of Ibadan, or in the case of upkeep, goes directly to the students in their bank accounts.” 

‘Claims of opacity misleading’

Sawyerr described allegations that NELFUND’s financial operations were opaque as potentially misleading, while saying he would examine the research or evidence behind such claims.

“It sounds a little bit like mischief to me. But again, I’d need to interrogate this research that was done,” he said.

The NELFUND boss also defended the integrity of the agency’s student selection process, insisting that the electronic application system was designed to eliminate favouritism, ethnic considerations and the influence of personal connections.

He said applicants were assessed against established eligibility requirements, including possession of a National Identification Number (NIN), Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) registration details, admission and matriculation or registration numbers and a bank account.

“We receive applications electronically. The system doesn’t recognise whether you’re male, female, whether you’re Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Fulani, Ibibio, or Ogoja,” he said.

Sawyerr stressed that applicants did not need to know or have connections with NELFUND officials before accessing the scheme.

“From our perspective, it’s completely agnostic as far as how people are chosen or concerned. It doesn’t care whether you’re friends with the Managing Director or in-laws with the Executive Director. It doesn’t care,” he said.

He maintained that the system was designed to ensure that eligible students could access the loans based on the established criteria rather than ethnicity, gender, influence or personal relationships.