Get Guardian on GoogleThe Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has launched a countrywide sensitisation campaign targeting 34 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as military, police and immigration barracks, to boost awareness and encourage more Nigerians to access its student loan scheme.
The campaign, tagged ‘Roadshow’, is designed to take information about the government-backed education financing programme directly to civil servants, parents and guardians, amid efforts to remove financial barriers preventing students from pursuing higher education.
The Director of SERVICOM at NELFUND, Olusola Fowobaje, disclosed this during an engagement with civil servants at the Ministry of Regional Development in Abuja, saying the initiative would cover 34 ministries before extending to security formations across the country.
He described the exercise as a door-to-door sensitisation campaign aimed at ensuring that government employees understand the scheme and can guide their children and dependants who may need financial assistance to access tertiary education.
According to him, the campaign is part of the management’s strategy to take NELFUND’s services closer to Nigerians rather than rely solely on conventional public awareness channels.
“We are covering 34 ministries, and the directive is also to cover all the barracks, including military barracks, police barracks, immigration and others. We are doing that, and we are more than capable of handling it,” Fowobaje said.
He explained that the student loan scheme has two major components: institutional fees and upkeep allowances. While the institutional component covers approved tuition fees, eligible beneficiaries also receive a monthly upkeep allowance of N20,000 to support their living expenses.
Fowobaje said the sensitisation campaign would also address misconceptions discouraging some Nigerians from applying, particularly fears that beneficiaries could be prevented from travelling or arrested for accessing the government-backed facility.
He assured prospective applicants that the scheme was designed to provide accessible educational financing, adding that its technology-driven application process was transparent and did not require personal connections or special intervention.
The SERVICOM director said expanding awareness of the scheme was critical to reducing the number of students forced to abandon their education because of financial difficulties.
He added that improving access to educational financing would strengthen human capital development, boost productivity and contribute to tackling broader national challenges, including illiteracy and insecurity.
Fowobaje said the campaign would extend beyond Abuja to other parts of the country, with civil servants and security personnel expected to serve as important channels for communicating the scheme’s benefits to their families and communities.
In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development, Mary Ogbe, said the engagement was organised to familiarise ministry officials with the scheme and equip them with accurate information to guide other employees.
She described the meeting as the first phase of a broader sensitisation exercise that would subsequently be extended to other members of staff.
Ogbe urged participants to seek clarification on issues surrounding the loan scheme and make the most of the opportunity to understand its requirements and benefits.
She also expressed the ministry’s readiness to collaborate with NELFUND to ensure wider awareness and participation, particularly among employees whose children and dependants could benefit from the initiative.
