Friday, May 2, 2025 - The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has commenced a comprehensive investigation into alleged discrepancies surrounding the disbursement of student loans under the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
The spokesman of the commission, Demola Bakare, who
disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, May 1, 2025, revealed that only
N28.8 billion was disbursed to students in various tertiary institutions
instead of N100 billion released to the schools.
According to the statement, key stakeholders, including the
Director-General of the Budget Office and the Accountant-General of the
Federation have been invited.
Bakare also disclosed that senior officials from the Central
Bank of Nigeria as well as the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director
of NELFUND were invited to provide documentation and explanations relevant to
the case.
This action follows a recent media report alleging that no
fewer than 51 tertiary institutions were implicated in illegal deductions and
exploitation related to the NELFUND scheme.
These institutions were alleged to have made unauthorized
deductions ranging from N3,500 to N30,000 from each student’s institutional
fees received through the loan fund.
Preliminary findings revealed a significant gap in the
financial records of the disbursement process. While the Federal Government
reportedly released N100 billion for the scheme, only N28.8 billion was
disbursed to students, leaving an unaccounted sum of N71.2 billion.
The Commission confirmed that its Chairman’s Special Task
Force immediately swung into action upon receiving the report. Letters of
investigation and invitations were dispatched to key stakeholders, including
the Director General of the Budget Office, the Accountant General of the
Federation, and senior officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Additionally, the Chief Executive Officer and Executive
Director of NELFUND were invited to provide documentation and explanations
relevant to the case. According to the Commission, the responses received were
critically analyzed, and interviews were conducted with the concerned
individuals.
According to the ICPC, its strength of investigation revealed
that the total money received by NELFUND as of March 19, 2024, was N203.8
billion.
“The breakdown showed that N10 Billion was an allocation from
the Federation Allocation Account Committee, N50 billion was from the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, N71.9B was from the Tertiary Education Trust
Fund, while another N71.9 billion was also from the same Tertiary Education
Trust Fund.”
ICPC, however,
found that the total amount disbursed to institutions from inception to date is
about N44,200,933,649.00, while a total of 299 institutions have benefited from
the funds released.
To date, the total amount
disbursed to 299 beneficiary institutions stands at approximately N44.2
billion, with 293,178 students having benefited from the fund.
The ICPC confirmed that a clear
case of discrepancies has been established in the administration of the student
loan scheme and announced that its investigation will now extend to beneficiary
institutions and individual student recipients.
“Further
updates will be provided as the investigation progresses,” the statement
added.
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