Governors and lawmakers from Nigeria’s South-East have intervened to ensure students from the region benefit from the Federal Government’s student loan scheme, amid concerns of their initial exclusion. This move follows the release of a list by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) which showed no institutions from the South-East as beneficiaries of the scheme.
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, provided assurances on Monday that these issues would soon be resolved, with South-East students included in the programme. His statement came after the South-East caucus in the National Assembly raised concerns over the region’s exclusion, despite other regions, including the North, South-West, and South-South, having institutions that had already taken advantage of the programme.
The exclusion sparked a backlash on social media, prompting NELFUND to clarify that no institution from the South-East had completed its verification process on the platform. Addressing the situation, Kalu noted that his office had been in contact with the relevant authorities responsible for the student loans and expressed optimism about a resolution in the coming days.
During these engagements, it was discovered that the primary reasons for the South-East’s exclusion were low student registration and errors in completing relevant forms, such as missing Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) results. He indicated that affected institutions in the region have since taken steps to rectify these issues.
“The governors of the region are also actively involved in increasing the number of participating students, and members of the National Assembly have been encouraged to reach out to their constituents for immediate compliance,” Kalu stated.
To boost awareness and encourage participation, Kalu’s office has initiated several measures, including producing jingles in English, Igbo, and Pidgin English, which will be aired on various radio stations across the region.
Statistics reveal a significant number of eligible students yet to apply for the loans. For instance, Abia State Polytechnic has 2,543 eligible students, but none could apply due to missing JAMB numbers. Similarly, at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, only 406 applications were submitted out of 21,342 eligible students.
The pattern of low application rates extends across several institutions in the region, including Abia State University, where none of the 17,928 eligible students applied, and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, which had only 781 applications from 40,769 eligible students.
Other institutions, such as the University of Medical and Applied Sciences in Enugu and the Federal Polytechnic, Ohodo, also reported minimal applications despite having hundreds of eligible students. In Imo State, only 1,114 applications were received from 27,371 eligible students at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, while Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education had just 11 applications from 1,109 eligible students.
Kalu urged all institutions to actively encourage their students to apply for the loan and called on community stakeholders to set up registration points to facilitate the process. He also emphasized that the governors and lawmakers from the region are committed to ensuring more students participate in the scheme.
“The governors are also working to ensure more students participate, and members of the House of Representatives and Senate from the South-East have been tasked with reaching out to their constituents for immediate compliance,” Kalu reiterated.
He appealed for patience among South-East students and residents, assuring them that all necessary steps are being taken to resolve the issue and secure their rightful inclusion in the Federal Government’s student loan programme.
