The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has condemned what it described as unethical practices by some tertiary institutions, accusing them of withholding tuition refunds from students and
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has condemned what it described as unethical practices by some tertiary institutions, accusing them of withholding tuition refunds from students and arbitrarily increasing school charges, despite benefiting from the federal government’s student loan scheme.
The Fund issued a public notice on Sunday through its Director of Strategic Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, stating that it had received reports of institutions refusing or delaying refunds to students who had already paid their tuition fees out of pocket, only for NELFUND to later disburse the same fees directly to those same schools.
In simple terms, here is the problem the institution is describing. A student pays their tuition fee before their NELFUND loan is approved and disbursed. Once the loan comes through, NELFUND pays the same amount directly to the institution.
At that point, the student is owed a refund for the money they already paid out of pocket. Some institutions, according to NELFUND, are either delaying that refund indefinitely or refusing to pay it at all, effectively collecting tuition twice for the same student.
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The body also raised concern about institutions arbitrarily raising tuition and other charges after benefiting from the scheme, warning that such increases undermine the entire point of the programme.
NELFUND CEO, Akintunde Sawyerr Why this threatens NELFUND’s purposeThe Student Loan Scheme was introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to remove financial barriers to higher education, not to create new ones. NELFUND was explicit about this distinction in its statement, stressing that the scheme exists to ease the financial burden on students, not to give institutions room to extract more money from beneficiaries through delayed refunds or inflated fees.
If these practices continue unchecked, students end up just as financially burdened as before, while public funds intended to expand access to education are undermined by institutional overreach. That defeats the policy’s core objective and erodes public trust in one of the government’s flagship education programmes.
The student loan body said it has already begun engaging directly with the affected institutions and relevant authorities to ensure that eligible students receive their refunds without further delay. It also said it is taking steps to ensure tuition and other institutional charges remain fair, transparent, and aligned with the scheme’s original intent.
“NELFUND remains committed to protecting the interests of students and preserving the integrity of this landmark national intervention,” Oluwatuyi said, reiterating the Fund’s resolve to safeguard the credibility of the programme and ensure beneficiaries are not denied its full benefits through what he described as exploitative practices by institutions.
