The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has said that benefiting students must present their National Identification Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) to their loans.
Additionally, applicants are also to provide their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination registration number.
The Managing Director of NELFUND, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, made this known during an interactive session with members of the Education Writers Association of Nigeria (EWAN) in Lagos.
“About 1.2 million Nigerian students in tertiary institutions and government-recognized skill acquisition centers will be among the first batch of beneficiaries,” he said.
He said the money to fund the loan scheme would come from 1% of the revenue generated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) annually.
“The school fee will be paid to the institution on behalf of the student and the stipend directly to the student’s account,” he said.
He added that financially indigent undergraduates, who need the loan for their education, are free to apply on a designed website and must provide their matriculation details. He said that the beneficiaries would be expected to start servicing the loans when they would secure jobs or set up businesses.
President Bola Tinubu earlier this month signed the newly revised Student Loans Re-enactment Bill, 2024 into law. The development followed the Senate and the House of Representatives independently evaluating the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund’s findings.
The executive bill, known as “A Bill for an Act to repeal the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2023, and to Enact the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Bill, 2024,” aims to create the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.
