The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has assured students that beneficiaries of the student loan scheme will not be restricted from travelling abroad after graduation.

Managing Director and Chief Executive of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, made this clarification during a sensitization programme at Edo University, Iyamho, while addressing students’ concerns about potential travel limitations.

Sawyerr emphasized that the law establishing NELFUND does not impose any travel restrictions on beneficiaries.

“The law that set up the Nigerian Education Loan Fund does not limit your ability to go and look for work wherever you want. You are not tied. It doesn’t say you cannot leave Nigeria because you have a loan with us. You can go wherever you want to go in the world. It is not possible for you to say that I can’t travel around the world,” Sawyerr stated.

However, he advised that students should take responsibility for repaying their loans, even if they secure jobs outside Nigeria.

“I think the right and proper thing to do, if you have a loan in Nigeria and you want to get a job somewhere else, is to pay the loan yourself back to your country,” he added.

Interest-free repayment structure

Sawyerr encouraged students to embrace the scheme, highlighting its unique benefits compared to other loan types.

“I want you to embrace it and I want you to act upon it because, if you miss this opportunity, it’s one that will affect generations… You know why? Because NELFUND is different from all other types of loans. It is the only loan you can take to acquire something that can never be taken away from you,” he explained.

• According to him, the repayment structure is interest-free, even if repayments extend over a decade.
• Sawyerr also provided updates on the disbursement process, revealing that NELFUND is prepared to distribute N135 billion once all applications are processed.

“We have received about 520,000 registrations and about 419,000 applications. We have processed and paid 261,000 students. Both upkeep and institutional fees. Our total exposure today, if we were to pay everybody that has applied, is somewhere in the region of N135 billion. But we have not processed all those people. We have got the money and we are ready in case all of them get processed. We can disburse N135 billion,” he disclosed.

University officials commend initiative

Acting Vice Chancellor of Edo University, Professor Dawood Egbefo, applauded the initiative, noting that 51 students from the institution had already benefited from N61.4 million in funding during the 2023/2024 academic session.

During an earlier sensitization visit to Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, NELFUND expressed concern over low application numbers, revealing that only 102 students had applied, amounting to less than N20 million in disbursements.

Lami Suwaid, Director of Loan Allocation and Distribution at NELFUND, encouraged the university to take advantage of the new registration cycle to boost participation.

A bill for the establishment of the Federal University of Okigwe in Imo state has scaled third reading at the senate.

The bill, sponsored by Patrick Ndubueze, aims to provide quality education in various professional fields, including agriculture, environmental sciences, epidemiology, virology, robotics, and nuclear technology.

Speaking on Tuesday, Ndubueze added that the Imo state government had approved all necessary facilities to be taken over by the proposed institution.

During deliberations, the senate resolved into a committee of the whole, presided over by Barau Jibrin, the deputy senate president, to conduct a detailed review of the bill.

After scrutinising each clause, the bill was formally adopted and passed by lawmakers.

Commending Ndubueze for sponsoring the bill, Jibrin said education remains the foundation of any thriving society.

“I must commend Senator Ndubueze for sponsoring the bill. Education is the bedrock of every society. Any country that treats the issue of education with levity will be doomed,” he said.

Jibrin dismissed suggestions that Nigeria has so many universities, adding that they are not enough.

“I do hope that the president will sign it so that this university will be established,” he added.

The Dean, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, University of Uyo, Prof. Peter Esuh, has warned journalists and other media practitioners to refrain from portraying Nigerian leaders unfairly in global discourse.

Fielding questions at his office in Uyo during the weekend, Esuh, who is a Professor of Corporate Communication, Marketing and Applied Rhetorics, said such attitude damages the country’s reputation, dignity and credibility.

He therefore called for greater responsibility in news reportage, prioritizing fact-based journalism over sensationalism to safeguard national dignity and professional ethics.

The professor noted that most Nigerians use social media, which is a global platform, to denigrate their leaders, without recourse to the negative consequences.

He said, “I am worried about the way we react to issues as Nigerians. Let me use this opportunity to say that traditional medium of communication has a way of protecting a country.

“Most of our people do not know that the social media are global media. We just think that when we type something on Twitter, it’s only seen here and once we go on Facebook, it is only seen here.

“These are all global media and are ways to which the global village has been actualized.”

The university don also faulted the way some influencers and bloggers reported the recent invitation extended to former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Udom Emmanuel by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

He observed that most of the reports on the issue were not balanced.