The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced on Wednesday that no fraud was uncovered in the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
He made the statement following a meeting with Vice Chancellors, officials from the National Universities Commission, NELFUND, and the Federal Ministry of Education. Alausa also dismissed recent claims by the Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) as inaccurate.
“Let me start by saying that there is no fraud in NELFUND. ICPC reported that the information was not correct. There is no fraud in NELFUND; we have issues that have to do with the timeline.”
Recently, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission announced that it has commenced a comprehensive investigation into alleged discrepancies surrounding the disbursement of student loans under the Nigeria Education Loan Fund.
The Commission stated that its preliminary findings revealed that, although the Federal Government allocated N100 billion for the scheme, only N28.8 billion was disbursed to students, leaving N71.2 billion unaccounted for.
Concerned by the development, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has vowed to protest the alleged discrepancies.
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) claimed that some universities, in collusion with certain banks, delayed payments to eligible students to profit from the situation.
This followed a media report accusing several institutions of making unauthorised deductions, ranging from N3,500 to N30,000, from students’ fees disbursed through the loan fund.
In a statement issued last Thursday, ICPC spokesperson Demola Bakare revealed that the Commission’s Special Task Force had immediately launched an investigation after receiving the allegations.
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