NELFUND Announces Fresh Tuition Payment System for Student Loan Beneficiaries

 NELFUND Announces Fresh Tuition Payment System for Student Loan Beneficiaries

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced plans to introduce a student-controlled digital token system that will transform how tuition fees are disbursed under the Federal Government's student loan scheme.

The proposed system, disclosed by NELFUND's Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyerr, during an interview on ARISE News, will enable students to personally authorize the payment of their tuition fees to their institutions. Instead of the current process, beneficiaries will receive a unique digital token on their mobile phones, which they will present at their institution's bursary to initiate payment.

Once the student validates the transaction, NELFUND will transfer the approved tuition fees directly to the institution, creating a more transparent, secure, and student-centred payment process.

According to Sawyerr, the reform is designed to address operational challenges encountered during the first year of the student loan programme. He cited instances where students paid their tuition before their loans were processed, only for NELFUND to later remit the same fees to their institutions, resulting in duplicate payments.

He explained that the digital token system will eliminate such occurrences by ensuring that tuition payments are made only after students confirm and authorize the transaction.

Sawyerr also reaffirmed that NELFUND deliberately avoids disbursing tuition loan funds directly into students' personal bank accounts to safeguard the funds from being diverted to non-educational purposes. The agency, he said, remains committed to ensuring that the loans are used strictly to support students' education.

In addition, NELFUND is working to synchronize its application and payment processes with the academic calendars of tertiary institutions. The move is expected to reduce processing delays, improve service delivery, and strengthen accountability as the number of beneficiaries continues to increase.

The proposed digital token system represents another significant step in NELFUND's efforts to modernize the administration of Nigeria's student loan programme while giving beneficiaries greater control over their tuition payment process.