TETFUND to support student loan fund with 30% allocation — FG

The Federal Government on Wednesday said the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) will now set aside 30% of its allocation from the Federation Account to support the disbursement of loans by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to students.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, gave the indication while briefing newsmen on the components of the Economic Stabilisation Bill submitted by the Executive to the National Assembly for further amendments.

He stated that the amendment to the TETFUND 2011 Act, as contained in the Economic Stabilisation Bill, is an important element that affects Nigerian students.

“The other one is the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Amendment Bill 2024. Why it is important is that it has an element that affects the Nigerian Loan Education Fund. Some of us have been wondering how we are going to fund the NELFUND; the government has an answer,” he said.

“Most of the funding will come from the money going to TETFUND, so there is an amendment to the TETFUND 2011 Act that now says the fund shall fund the disbursement of NELFUND. This means that TETFUND, before it disburses the amount in its fund, shall set aside an initial one-third of the amount to be transferred to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund—that is, 30% of whatever TETFUND gets from the Federation Account will now be passed on as a readymade source of funds to NELFUND.”

Responding to the impact of the proposed amendment to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund 2011 Act in relation to the existing intervention in public tertiary institutions, Onanuga said that the government believes the fund accruing to TETFUND from the Federation Account can adequately boost disbursement by NELFUND.

He explained that TETFUND, having funded infrastructure in public higher institutions visibly well since its inception, would have the efficiency to sustain students’ enrolment in public higher institutions through its support for the disbursement of loans to students.

He added, “Regarding the TETFUND issue, I do know TETFUND has been doing a lot of work helping universities—not just universities, but also colleges of education, polytechnics, and so on. TETFUND has been doing a lot of work. The government must have looked at the money accruing to it and must have felt that maybe if you take away 30% of whatever comes to it, it will also help the students who go to all those schools, because that’s what the whole idea is about. The idea of NELFUND is to make sure that all our children, wherever they may be, are able to go to school, even if their parents are poor.

“So, TETFUND cannot just be building assembly halls or laboratories without making sure that even the students who are able to use the facilities can do so with loans from NELFUND.”

The Presidential Spokesman also explained that the one-third TETFUND funding support for NELFUND is supplementary support for the operations of NELFUND, while the federal government also makes budgetary allocations to fully fund loan disbursement by NELFUND to Nigerian students.

He said, “So, that may be the logic of the government—let TETFUND also fund NELFUND. The NELFUND money will not only come from TETFUND; there will also be budgetary allocations from the federal government to NELFUND all the time. So, this is supplementary.”

Also, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital/New Media, O’tega Ogra, recalled that President Tinubu’s speech during the #EndBadGovernance Protest revealed that financial recoveries from illegal activities would be used to fund the student loan scheme.

He said, “Don’t forget that recently, in the President’s speech during the protests, he also ensured that some money gotten from illegal activities will be moved to fund NELFUND, and he did that.”

Acknowledging that public higher institutions need more funds to support the administration of the institutions, O’tega added that the waiver granted to public higher institutions on internally generated revenue by the federal government is to further help them support the system.

“All universities used to remit a portion of their IGR to the federal government. That has been stopped.

“We know they need a lot more funding. We know the budgetary allocations to education can be improved, but a lot is being done, at least in the interim, to bridge whatever funding gaps they have,” Ogra added.