The Federal Government has moved to strengthen the financial sustainability of its student loan scheme, as the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate cooperation on recovered funds and tighten accountability in the management of public resources.

The pact, signed in Abuja yesterday, came against the backdrop of President Bola Tinubu’s directive that all unencumbered liquid funds recovered by the EFCC be transferred to NELFUND to support the long-term financing of student loans.

NELFUND Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Akintunde Sawyerr, led a delegation to the EFCC corporate headquarters, where they were received by the Commission’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, for the engagement that culminated in the agreement.

The development places recovered proceeds from financial crime investigations within a broader government strategy to expand access to tertiary education while strengthening safeguards around public funds.

Under the MoU, NELFUND and the EFCC are expected to collaborate on recovered funds that may support the education loan fund’s mandate, subject to applicable laws, regulations and established procedures.

The agreement also provides for deeper information sharing, improved operational processes and stronger accountability mechanisms aimed at identifying and closing potential loopholes in the management of resources.

For NELFUND, the partnership is significant as the agency seeks to build a student financing system capable of supporting increasing demand for tertiary education without undermining public confidence in the management of the scheme.

The Fund said the collaboration would help remove financial barriers to higher education while strengthening institutional governance and ensuring that public resources are deployed for meaningful national development.

The partnership is also expected to reinforce the Federal Government’s effort to create an education financing framework that combines access to loans with prudent management of national resources.

Both agencies reaffirmed their commitment to integrity, transparency and accountability in the handling of public funds, stressing the need to ensure that recovered resources are deployed in ways that deliver tangible benefits to Nigerians.

The MoU marks a new layer of institutional cooperation between the two agencies, linking the recovery of public resources with the government’s effort to expand opportunities for Nigerian students and sustain its tertiary education financing programme.