Private Institutions Won’t Benefit from Student Loans- NELFUND Boss

The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr said Students in private tertiary institutions in the country are not going to benefit from the Student Loan Scheme because of some socio-economic factors.

Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday during a series of meetings with stakeholders in the education sector, he said that the fund is a tool for wealth redistribution in the society.

“Though President Bola Tinubu believes the fund is for all Nigerians, some factors have not made us to consider including students in private institutions as beneficiaries for now. We must understand that the scheme is a means to redistribute wealth to balance the society. We have to also know that it is a social programme meant to help in the education of the poor. It is a social scheme meant to help the people at the lower cadre.

” It is generally taken that if your child attends a private university, you may not be seen as being poor. That one apart, if the tuition fee in a private university is say N2 million, you can imagine how many students in a public university such an amount can take care of. Yes, parents of students in private schools also pay taxes, but we have to consider the impact of getting as many people as possible have access to tertiary education.”

Source: Vangaurd