The Managing Director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, says the student loan scheme helped reduce the tertiary education dropout rate by 20 percent in 2025.

Sawyerr disclosed this on Sunday while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, saying research conducted on the scheme showed that NELFUND support had enabled more students to remain in school and complete their education.

According to him, the research provides evidence that the student loan scheme is achieving its intended purpose.

“There is some other evidence from the research that has been done that shows that we reduced by 20% the dropout rate last year. There is clear evidence that this is working,” he said.

Sawyerr, however, did not identify the organisation responsible for the research or disclose the methodology used to arrive at the 20 percent figure.

He also referred to a recent study by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, which he said found that 84 percent of NELFUND beneficiaries were able to continue their tertiary education because of the scheme.

Addressing concerns about the management of NELFUND funds, Sawyerr said the organisation operates both internal and external audit systems.

He explained that NELFUND does not make cash disbursements, adding that payments are transferred directly from its Central Bank accounts to beneficiaries and institutions.

“When we pay this N20,000 to students every month, it goes directly to their bank accounts. We have their BVN. We can also see what is going on in their bank account,” he said.

On complaints by students who had already paid their institutional fees before receiving NELFUND support, Sawyerr attributed some of the delays in refunds to the timing of the scheme’s introduction.

He said some institutions refunded students promptly, while others had yet to do so.

“In some cases, the schools were very, very quick and agile. They were able to make the refunds to the students. In other instances, they didn’t,” he said.

Sawyerr added that NELFUND had involved security and investigative agencies in some cases to address unresolved refund issues.

Established in 2024, NELFUND provides interest-free loans to eligible students in tertiary institutions across Nigeria.

On September 3, the fund said it had disbursed more than N355 billion to 1,659,853 beneficiaries out of 1,800,489 applications received.