Sawyerr takes student loan sensitisation to Ekiti, urges parents to stop worrying
By Uji A. Iliyasu
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund), Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, has taken the gospel of student loans to Ekiti State, and his message to parents is simple: stop worrying, start encouraging.
Speaking at the Palace of the Oore of Otun Ekiti and Paramount Ruler of Moba land, Oba Adekunle Adeagbo, Sawyerr said President Bola Tinubu’s administration was determined to ease the financial pain of parents struggling to fund their children’s tertiary education.
“The President wants to take the burden off parents’ shoulders and put opportunity into their children’s hands,” Sawyerr said. “Nigerians are naturally curious — we want to know, we want to learn — and this student loan policy gives us the ladder to climb higher.”
The NELFund boss revealed that the response to the scheme had been overwhelming.
“In just the past 24 hours, 12,000 new applications came in,” he said with a smile. “Since May last year, we’ve had nearly 700,000 beneficiaries and over a million applications. The impact has been huge — and it shows that President Tinubu has his finger firmly on the nation’s educational pulse.”
Sawyerr praised Oba Adeagbo for his “action-oriented leadership,” saying the monarch’s personal effort to ensure no community in Moba was left behind prompted his quick visit.
“The Oore is one of those traditional rulers who don’t wait for opportunity — they chase it down. We came here because he came to us first,” he quipped.
He urged parents not to let fear of the word loan stop their children from pursuing higher education.
“These are soft loans, not hard knocks,” he said. “Parents should encourage their children to apply — this is about bringing relief to families, fulfilment to students, and honour to Nigeria.”
NELFund’s Executive Director of Finance and Administration, Dr. Femi Akinfala, assured parents that once a student secures admission into a public tertiary institution and applies properly, the loan is virtually guaranteed.
“The Tinubu administration wants parents to forget the stress of paying school fees,” he said. “Government will handle it through the student loan scheme.”
In his remarks, Oba Adekunle Adeagbo commended NELFund’s leadership and described the initiative as “a divine gift to our children and grandchildren.”
“President Tinubu is working, and this scheme is proof,” the monarch declared. “Education is the road to development. Let us not take this opportunity for granted. Decades from now, we will look back on this and see the same kind of impact Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s free education had on the South-West.”
A former Ekiti State Commissioner for Youths, Gold Adedayo, also joined in the praise, calling the scheme “a social equaliser” that is already reducing requests for educational assistance from the state government.
“This loan programme is closing the gap between the rich and poor,” Adedayo said. “It is quietly killing off class barriers — and that’s a revolution in itself.”
Established in April 2024 by President Bola Tinubu, NELFund administers the interest-free Nigerian Student Loan Scheme, designed to help students in public tertiary institutions cover tuition and living expenses.
Since its official launch on May 24, 2024, the fund has received 1,035,673 applications and disbursed over ₦116.4 billion — including ₦65.3 billion for institutional fees and ₦51.1 billion in upkeep allowances — across 239 universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education nationwide.
Reflecting on the milestone, Sawyerr described it as “a defining moment in Nigeria’s journey toward equitable education financing.”
“Crossing the one-million mark is more than just numbers,” he said. “It’s renewed hope for a generation of Nigerians determined to rise above financial barriers. It’s also proof that when sound policy meets good leadership, the results speak for themselves — loudly, and with a first-class degree!”