The managing director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has dismissed allegations of financial misappropriation within the agency, saying there is no evidence to support such claims.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Sawyerr explained that the connection between the removal of fuel subsidy and NELFUND lies in the Federal Government’s decision to redirect funds towards welfare programmes, including the student loan scheme.
He said NELFUND provides students with access to funding while also serving as part of the government’s broader effort to strengthen social welfare and expand access to education.
“There is no evidence of any financial misappropriation by NELFUND. The reality of it is that in order for people to take a loan, there has to be some capital they can draw on. The link is that the President, His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has removed subsidy on the one hand and is reassigning the funds that would ordinarily have gone to the top 1% of the 1% and pushing it into welfarist programs, of which NELFUND is one.”
Sawyerr also defended the effectiveness of the scheme, saying that although some students had experienced challenges with applications, payments and access to academic activities, such cases were rare and addressed whenever they arose.
“I absolutely accept that in certain cases, students may have found themselves in the untenable position where they cannot apply for the loan, or they’ve applied and haven’t had a result, or they’ve had a result and haven’t been able to attend classes. It’s very rare, by the way, and we always address the issue when it comes up.”
Addressing concerns over the sustainability of the scheme, Sawyerr said NELFUND currently has a monthly upkeep bill of about N16 billion, while loan recoveries from beneficiaries have yet to commence. He confirmed the Federal Government was exploring alternative ways of funding the scheme, including the use of forfeited proceeds of corruption and unclaimed dividends, to ensure that more students can access education.
“I think the President, in his magnanimity, is looking for ingenious ways to be able to continue to fund education. It’s a loan scheme. It’s two years plus old. We’re not getting any recoveries of the loans as of today. But how do you keep it going? We have a bill every month, as of today, of about 16 billion in upkeep alone. How do you maintain that? How do you keep that going? I think what the President is doing is looking for different ways of re-channeling, redirecting funds to a cause that is indeed very worthy from capital that’s probably sitting idle.
“Finally, you talked about corridors—sharing corridors of proceeds of crime. Again, it is those corridors, those proceeds of crime, that in many ways have led to the neglect in education. We must be able to find the link to make our country better.”
Clarifying the government’s position, Sawyerr said the use of recovered proceeds of crime for NELFUND was not intended to encourage plea bargaining or shield individuals who misappropriated public funds. He said the initiative was aimed at redirecting recovered funds towards young Nigerians who had suffered from the diversion of the country’s wealth.
“I don’t believe that what is intended here is to approach those who have… The President did not say, ‘Go and plea bargain or set up a plea bargain arrangement with those who have misappropriated Nigeria’s funds and then give it to NELFUND.’ He didn’t say that. The issues of misappropriated funds and proceeds of crime are entirely separate—completely separate to NELFUND.
“What has happened is that people have been found wanting in terms of fund acquisition, looting—as is the word that is commonly used—when those cases are settled, and the liquid elements of that are warehoused somewhere, the President is asking a very important question: ‘Why can’t we use it for the victims who suffered for some of these crimes?’
“And the victims tend to be the young; they tend to be those who want to get an education. So, he’s looking—he’s very focused, President Tinubu is very focused on trying to help those at the bottom of the ladder who never have really benefited from anything, but in fact, have suffered from the misappropriation of Nigeria’s wealth. I think this is pretty interesting, what he’s trying to do, and I’m in full support of it. The devil’s in the detail, of course, but I’m in full support of it.”
Responding to concerns over the transparency of NELFUND’s financial disbursement process, Sawyerr disputed the characterization of the scheme as opaque, saying payments to institutions and students were made electronically and could be traced.
He said NELFUND had recently transferred more than N1 billion to the University of Ibadan, while upkeep payments were sent directly to beneficiaries’ bank accounts.
“Again, concluding that 57% of people didn’t find it to the level of transparency that they would like, describing that as opaque, I think is a little bit extreme. But let’s go back and try to understand where we’re coming from with this. The University of Ibadan students, before NELFUND, probably had a very high dropout rate because they just didn’t have access to capital to go to school. Now, the President introduced NELFUND; we paid, I believe, over a billion naira to the University of Ibadan recently. And those funds are transferred directly to the institution. So, where is the opacity in that? We transferred the funds directly to the institution and asked the institution to give the students access to classes. We’ve also paid upkeep to the students directly.
“Now, in those two actions, the transfers of money are done electronically. It’s entirely traceable. The money leaves the Central Bank of Nigeria and goes either to the institution, the University of Ibadan, or in the case of upkeep, goes directly to the students in their bank accounts. So, I’m struggling to understand where the lack of transparency is. It sounds a little bit like mischief to me. But again, I’d need to interrogate this research that was done.”
Addressing concerns over the fairness of beneficiary selection, Sawyerr said NELFUND’s application process was entirely electronic and designed to be impartial. He added that eligibility was based on requirements such as having a National Identification Number (NIN), JAMB registration number, admission or matriculation details, and a bank account, rather than applicants’ gender, ethnicity or personal connections.
“We receive applications electronically. The system doesn’t recognize whether you’re male, female, whether you’re Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Fulani, Ibibio, or Ogoja. As long as you have an NIN, it’s in your favor because it means you’re Nigerian. If you have a JAMB registration number, it means that you’re properly qualified to access the tertiary institution that we deal with.
“If you’ve got a matriculation number or registration number, it means that you’ve been given admission. If you’ve got a bank account—because we don’t do cash, everything goes through the system—again, it means you qualify, and you’ve got admission in a proper institution.
“From our perspective, it’s completely agnostic as far as how people are chosen or concerned. It doesn’t care. The system doesn’t care whether you’re friends with the Managing Director or in-laws with the Executive Director. It doesn’t care.”
On the constitutional concerns surrounding NELFUND’s funding, Sawyerr said he was not a lawyer and would not comment on the legal implications, but maintained that President Bola Tinubu was committed to following constitutional provisions and the law. He also said no executive order had, to his knowledge, been issued to bypass the National Assembly.
“I’m neither a lawyer nor a constitutional lawyer, and so I’m not going to attempt to provide solutions or answers to legal issues.
“What I can tell you is that the President is in this situation where he wants to create reforms. He wants to favor those who have been sidelined for many years. Now, I believe, knowing this President, as out-of-the-box as he is and as creative as he is, he is also somebody who believes in following constitutional provisions and the law to the letter.
“There is absolutely no evidence today that the law is going to be sidestepped, that the National Assembly is going to be sidestepped. You mentioned executive orders. As far as I’m aware, an executive order has not, as of now, been issued to this effect.”
On the long-term sustainability of NELFUND, Sawyerr said the scheme could not rely on proceeds of crime as a long-term funding source, noting that its establishing law allows it to receive charitable donations, attract investments and invest in ventures capable of generating returns.
He added that NELFUND was already attracting interest from the private sector, which recognised its potential impact on employment, crime reduction and Nigeria’s socio-economic development.
“Moving on to the question that was asked earlier about long-term sustainability: the law that set up NELFUND allows us to go out and seek charitable donations, it allows those who want to invest in NELFUND to invest, and it allows NELFUND itself to invest in elements that are going to bring a return and income. What we’re seeing, I believe, today is short-term interventions.
“We’re hoping the proceeds of crime in this country will reduce as the anti-corruption drive goes on in other parts of government, so we can’t possibly rely on proceeds of crime in the long term. But if you look at the law that set this up, it does allow us to source funds from other places.
“And I can tell you today that there’s a lot of interest already from the private sector—from those who recognize how this can impact the economy, how this can impact employment, how this can impact crime, how this can impact banditry and insurgency. Those who recognize the benefit to the socio-political growth of Nigeria know that this must be sustainable. It’s about political will from the top, and it’s about participation from the people in the country. We all need to keep ourselves safe in this country by ensuring that we can fund this program adequately in the long term.”
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