By Felix Khanoba
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has assured members of the public and Civil Society Organizations to feel free to scrutinize their activities whenever the need arises.
NELFUND made this known on Thursday, April 25 when its management, led by the Managing Director, Mr Akintunde Sawyerr paid a visit to Transparency International (TI) Abuja office.
Speaking during the meeting, Mr Sawyerr said NELFUND has one aim; which is to give as many loans as possible to Nigerians in need of it.
He assured that NELFUND, under his watch will focus on its mandate and not a single kobo meant for students will go into private pockets.
A statement signed by Media and Public Relations Lead,
NELFUND, Nasir Ayitogo, quoted Sawyer as saying : “The students who wants to go to tertiary education, we will provide them the funding and our mandate is to provide that money for them to go to a government owned institution.
“The ultimate objective of the government is to reduce frustration from our society, and remove bad behaviour in all its ramifications resulting from forced idleness amongst the youth.
“We want to enable people through the loan to get opportunities to have a chance in life which only a few currently have.
“For all these to become a success, we have to keep our books open and make sure no money gets missing, to make this happen, we call on Nigerians and particularly Civil Society Organizations to checkmate our activities.
“We want to make sure we call those who can check our activity to prevent greed to please do so in the best interest of Nigerians.”
In his separate remark, the Executive Director Operations, Mr Mustapha Iyal called for a more robust synergy between NELFUND and Transparency International in terms of the loans repayment.
He said only when the loans are repaid that more students will benefit in future.
Also in his remarks, the Executive Director in charge of Finance and Administration, Dr Fredrick Akinfala also emphasized on transparency. He said that will enable the management do the right.
He said NELFUND will be signing an MoU with Transparency International in that regard.
On his own part, the head of Transparency International in Nigeria, Auwal Rafsanjani said the students loan will help in eliminating all forms of criminalities in Nigeria.
Mr Rafsanjani who is also the Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) applauded President Bola Tinubu for coming up with such initiatives, urging the National Assembly to give the agency maximum legislative support.
He lauded Tinubu for the choice of the management of the fund, adding that he has confidence that the right thing will be done.
