NELFUND closes 2024-2025 application portal today 

The Federal Government, yesterday, disclosed that its impact on basic education nationwide had positively affected 2.3 million learners in the last six months.

It also revealed plans to reintroduce the school feeding programme by deploying technology to pay mothers directly, ensuring that children are well-fed.

Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, made the disclosure in Abuja while delivering the keynote address at the launch of the Federal Ministry of Education’s Communication Strategy (2025–2027).

According to him, 21 states have migrated their data into the Nigeria Education Data Initiative (NEDI), a unified, centralised, and secure data repository for all levels of education in the country.

“The annual school census data have now been onboarded to the NEDI platform. Twenty-one states have migrated their data into it. We now have the capacity to monitor a child from primary to secondary school, and we will also extend it to the tertiary level soon,” Alausa said.

The minister explained that the government was working on piloting the reintroduced school feeding programme to improve learning outcomes and child nutrition.

His words: “We are going to be piloting the school feeding programme. We have identified the states where we will start, and we will deploy technology for this purpose by compensating mothers to ensure their children are well-fed. Mechanisms have been put in place to ensure transparency and accountability in the process.”

In July this year, The Guardian reported that the suspension of the Federal Government’s National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in January 2024 had left over nine million pupils and 250,000 jobs stranded. 

Highlighting the progress made in the sector in the last six months, the minister said: “Just in the past six months, 4,900 classrooms were constructed, 3,000 classrooms renovated, 34 model and SMART schools built, and 353,000 furniture pieces supplied, which has impacted 2.3 million learners nationwide.”

IN a related development, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced that the application portal for the student loan scheme for the 2024/2025 academic session will officially close today, September 30, 2025. 

Its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Akintunde Sawyerr, made the announcement yesterday at a press conference in Abuja.  He added that the portal would reopen in the second week of next month for fresh applications into the 2025/2026 academic session. 

The MD said the cycle would remain open until January 2026. According to him, all applications for the 2024/2025 academic session that remain unverified by institutions after October 8 will be automatically cancelled.  He urged institutions to update their candidates’ records on the Student Verification System (SVS) to enable them to apply for the 2025/2026 academic session.

While explaining that Upkeep Allowance for the session will continue to be disbursed until November 2025, Sawyerr, however, submitted that applicants must reapply for the 2025/2026 academic session to continue receiving upkeep perks. 

He said: “Announcing the closure of the current application portal is a necessary step to prepare for the next cycle. NELFUND remains committed to removing financial barriers for students and to working with institutions to ensure that no eligible student is left behind. 

“These timelines provide clarity for students, parents, and institutions to plan ahead and participate fully in the process. We also urge all institutions to update their students’ records on the Student Verification System (SVS) promptly, as this step is critical to enabling students to access the Fund.”