By Felix Khanoba
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has launched a nationwide sensitisation campaign targeting 34 federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), as well as military, police and immigration barracks, to expand awareness and encourage more Nigerian students to benefit from its education loan scheme.
The initiative is designed to take information about the loan scheme directly to civil servants, parents and guardians, enabling them to understand the programme and guide their children and dependants who may need financial support to pursue higher education.
The Director of SERVICOM at NELFUND, Olusola Fowobaje, disclosed this during a sensitisation exercise tagged ‘Roadshow’ at the Ministry of Regional Development in Abuja.
Fowobaje explained that the campaign was part of the management’s strategy to deepen public awareness of the Fund’s intervention and address misconceptions that could discourage eligible Nigerians from applying.
He said the exercise, which would cover 34 ministries, would also be extended to military formations, police and immigration barracks across the country.
According to him, the student loan scheme has two major components: institutional fees and upkeep allowances. While the institutional component covers approved tuition fees, beneficiaries are also entitled to a monthly upkeep allowance of N20,000.
Explaining the rationale behind the outreach, Fowobaje said the management was determined to take information about the programme to government institutions and communities where potential beneficiaries and their parents could be reached directly.
“Well, let me put it this way: the managing director, the chief executive officer, part of his initiative, or let me say the management team, the executive management team, you know, is to move around, to sensitize, to bring these products, is our products a good product that is loaned to Nigerian students to the doorsteps of our neighbors, where we belong, that is MDAs, the ministries, the departments, and agencies. So we’ve gone everywhere. There were the management staff all over Nigeria to sensitize people, tell them about Nigerian Education Loan Fund and the benefits, the objectives of this mandate.
“We’ve done one today, and it is tagged roadshow. We call it roadshow. It’s just another name for sensitization. That is a door-to-door sensitization in ministries.
“We are covering 34 ministries, and he said further that we should cover all the barracks, cover all the barracks, military barracks, police barracks, immigration, and what have you. And we are doing that. We are much more than capable of handling that”, he stated.
The NELFUND official also dismissed fears and misconceptions surrounding the scheme, clarifying that beneficiaries would not be prevented from travelling or arrested simply for accessing the government-backed facility.
He further assured prospective applicants that the application process was technology-driven, transparent and accessible, stressing that applicants did not need personal connections or special intervention to obtain the loan.
Fowobaje said the nationwide campaign would extend beyond Abuja to all regions, with particular attention to security formations outside the Federal Capital Territory.
He added that the initiative was aimed at tackling financial difficulties that force some students to abandon their education, while promoting equal access to higher education irrespective of family income.
According to him, expanding access to educational financing would strengthen Nigeria’s human capital development, improve productivity and help address wider social challenges, including illiteracy and insecurity.
In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Regional Development, Mary Ada Ogbe, represented by the Acting Director of Community Development and Education, said the engagement was organised to provide ministry officials with detailed information about the loan scheme and its benefits.
She explained that the meeting, organised in collaboration with NELFUND, was intended to equip directors and heads of units with the necessary knowledge to educate other employees about the programme.
Ogbe said the engagement represented the first phase of a wider sensitisation exercise that would subsequently be extended to other members of staff.
She noted that familiarising the ministry’s leadership and workforce with the scheme would enable eligible employees to access relevant information and guide their children and dependants on available educational financing opportunities.
The Permanent Secretary urged participants to use the opportunity to seek clarification on issues surrounding the scheme and expressed the ministry’s willingness to collaborate with NELFUND to achieve wider awareness and participation.
