ActionAid Nigeria raised the alarm on Wednesday over the widespread abuse of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) scheme, revealing that more than 50 tertiary institutions across the country have been accused of hiking fees, withholding refunds, and frustrating students attempting to access the student loan programme.
Established in 2000, ActionAid Nigeria is the local affiliate of ActionAid International, a global movement working in over 40 countries. The organisation fights poverty and promotes social justice, strongly advocating for quality education, women’s rights, youth empowerment, and accountable governance.
In a press statement, Andrew Mamedu, Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, stated that it is not administrative misconduct, but rather corruption in educational institutions. He said the institutions have betrayed public trust and actively undermined the ideals of transparency, equity, and social justice that education should embody. To him, fee hikes ranging from N2,500 to N30,000 per student may seem trivial on paper. However, when calculated across tens of thousands of students, the abuse snowballs into a multi-million-naira scandal.
He said it is not an isolated incident, but a coordinated and normalised pattern of corruption.
“This scandal is a brutal reminder that when institutions lose their soul, students become collateral damage. These young Nigerians turned to the government’s loan scheme out of desperation, not convenience, and what they got in return was exploitation. Institutions entrusted with both academic and moral leadership have shamelessly co-modified education.
ActionAid Nigeria calls for the immediate suspension of the heads of institutions found to be complicit in the alleged fraud, urging their governing councils to take swift action. The organisation also appealed to the Minister of Education and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene if the councils fail to act.
“If eventually found guilty, they must be dismissed from public service and prosecuted immediately. We also call on the EFCC and ICPC to move beyond mere observation or investigation and take decisive legal action,” said Mamedu.
He added, “One would have thought that paying institutions directly was the more efficient and secure route to minimise risks of student misuse and ensure timely tuition payments. But once again, these public institutions have proven incapable of individual and institutional accountability, turning a system built for support into one ripe for exploitation.”
