Nigerian Education Loan Fund
NELFUND
About
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) is a federal financial institution that provides loans to qualified Nigerians to pay tuition, other fees, charges and upkeep while they study at approved tertiary and vocational or skills acquisition institutions within Nigeria. It aims to make higher education and functional skills training more accessible and sustainable for students and young people. NELFUND operates as a body corporate governed by a board of directors drawn from relevant ministries, regulators and participating agencies, while a managing director leads its day-to-day operations. It runs an online portal for loan applications and offers flexible repayment plans linked to graduates' income, grace periods before repayment starts, and loan consolidation options.
History
NELFUND was created to address shortcomings of the previous Student Loan Act of 2023, which faced challenges related to governance, management, loan purposes, eligibility, application methods, repayment and loan recovery. It was established under the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) (Repeal and Re-enactment) Act, 2024, and was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on 3 April 2024. In 2024 the agency introduced its online application portal and a student loan repayment strategy. In August 2024 it published the list of institutions that received tuition payments for students, disbursing N2,946,927,155 to 19 institutions for 27,667 students. On 6 September 2024 it announced further disbursements of N2,416,183,516.80 to an additional 40 institutions, bringing the total to 59. On 17 February 2025 the agency disclosed that it had paid N22,736,960,971 as institutional loans for 215,514 students at the end of the 2023/2024 academic session.
Key Facts
Established
3 April 2024
Headquarters
Abuja
Managing Director
Akintunde Sawyerr
Jurisdiction
Federal government of Nigeria
Abbreviation
NELFUND