The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has commenced investigations into 34 tertiary institutions over allegations that they failed to refund students whose tuition fees were paid twice under the Federal Government’s student loan scheme.
Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this during an interview on ARISE NEWS on Sunday, saying the probe followed a growing number of petitions from affected students.
According to him, the agency is collaborating with anti-corruption agencies, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), internal auditors and other stakeholders to determine the circumstances surrounding the alleged failure to refund students.
“I can tell you that there are about 34 institutions that we are looking at at the moment because of the number of petitions we’ve received,” Sawyerr said.
He explained that the issue stemmed from the mid-session rollout of the student loan scheme, which led many students to pay their tuition fees before NELFUND later disbursed the same fees directly to their institutions.
“What happened is that a lot of schools got double payments—some from the students and some from us,” he said.
Sawyerr stressed that institutions which received the duplicate payments are responsible for refunding the affected students, noting that the refund process is outside NELFUND’s control.
He said many students were relying on the refunds to repay loans obtained from family members or other sources to fund their education.
“Most students in this country do not have enough money. Some borrowed the funds themselves, while others relied on their parents or relatives. They expect those payments to be refunded once the loan covers their tuition,” he said.
While commending some institutions for promptly refunding students, Sawyerr noted that others had failed to do so, attributing some delays to administrative challenges rather than deliberate misconduct.
He disclosed that NELFUND is upgrading its payment platform to introduce a token-based system that will allow students to authorise tuition payments electronically at their institutions, reducing the risk of duplicate payments in future.
According to him, the agency deliberately pays tuition fees directly to institutions instead of students to prevent the diversion of loan funds for other purposes.
Sawyerr, however, acknowledged that NELFUND lacks the legal authority to compel institutions to issue refunds or prosecute defaulting schools.
He noted that many affected students had submitted petitions not only to NELFUND but also to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), prompting joint investigations.
He revealed that a five-member team comprising NELFUND officials, internal auditors, anti-corruption personnel, EFCC representatives and NANS members had already visited one of the accused institutions as part of the ongoing probe.
On concerns over tuition fee hikes, Sawyerr said NELFUND had refused to pay institutions that increased their fees beyond acceptable levels after the introduction of the student loan scheme.
He added that the agency would continue to investigate every complaint thoroughly while giving institutions the benefit of the doubt where appropriate, as it works to strengthen the implementation of the loan programme.
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