NELFUND may increase ₦20,000 student loan stipends due to economic realities

The Nigerian Education Load Fund (NELFUND) has disclosed that there will a be constant review of the 20,000 naira monthly stipends to successful applicants of the scheme to align with economic realities.

NELFUND Director of Corporate Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, made this known in Abuja during the week.

The fund recently announced that over 20,000 students whose loan applications were successful received 20,000 naira monthly stipends for July.

The monthly stipend, which is renewable after every session, is a separate upkeep loan accessible to qualified applicants for student loans.

Meanwhile, Oluwatuyi responded to a question on whether NELFUND plans to review the upkeep amount to reflect the harsh economic realities.

“Certainly, the ₦20,000 per month is just a starting point, the fund will adjust the stipend from time to time in line with economic realities,” she told Punch.

Addressing the issue of students who applied for student loans but were not allowed to write their examinations, the NELFUN official said, “For the students who were sent out of the hall because of school fees, we can’t comment on that for now because we don’t know which semester exams they were writing.

“Some students are in their second semester and still expect the loan they applied for to cover the current session, it can’t work that way. NELFUND will cover 100 per cent of fees for students starting from their next session (if they are already in the second semester). We won’t also pay retrospectively.”