ABUJA — About N355.87 billion disbursed by the Nigeria Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, could face recovery challenges when repayments begin unless the Federal Government urgently strengthens the scheme’s repayment architecture, a higher education policy think tank has warned.
The iRead To Live Initiative, in a policy brief released on Monday, urged the government to integrate NELFUND with income data from the Nigeria Revenue Service to track beneficiaries and recover loans, particularly from self-employed graduates and other borrowers outside the formal payroll system.
The warning came in the group’s latest policy brief titled “Can NELFUND Sustain Itself? Financing Nigeria’s Student Loan Scheme.”
NELFUND has disbursed N355.87 billion in student loans to about 850,000 beneficiaries since its portal was launched in May 2024.
But the think tank said the scheme’s ability to recover the funds remained untested, warning that its current repayment framework could leave the government unable to trace a significant number of beneficiaries when repayment obligations take effect.
