NANS issues ultimatum to 115 varsities to submit student data for loan

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to state-owned universities to submit data of their students to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

NELFUND said that 115 out of 151 state universities were yet to submit data of their students to access the Federal Government’s student loan scheme.

NANS president, Lucky Emonefe, in a statement, berated the higher institutions for lack of commitment and urgency to help their students benefit from the loan scheme.

He said the association will continue to monitor the situation closely even as he called on the affected institutions to immediately ensure that all students have the opportunity to benefit from the loan scheme.

Describing the development as disheartening, the NANS President expressed dismay that the affected institutions are not taking advantage of this opportunity for their students.

Emonefe said, “We call on the management of these institutions to prioritize the uploading of their students’ data on the loan board portal before the deadline. Education is a fundamental right, and every student deserves access to financial support to further their studies.

“NANS will continue to monitor the situation closely and call on the remaining institutions to immediately ensure that all students have the opportunity to benefit from this loan scheme. We will not stand by and allow any student to be denied access to education due to administrative negligence.

“Failure to make this provision available to the NELFUND portal within the next 48 hours will leave us with the only option of rolling out our action plans against the erring institutions”.

NELFUND on Sunday said students enrolled in the “36 state-owned tertiary institutions can now apply for student loans effective 7th July 2024”.

It urged other state-owned tertiary institutions to submit their complete student data to the NELFUND Student Verification System timely to enable their students to benefit from the scheme.

The Guardian observed that while Osun ranks top with 13 state institutions, others like Delta, Rivers, Abia, Plateau, Niger, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Enugu, Jigawa, Kwara, Sokoto are conspicuously missing with no institution registered.