The Student Loan Nightmare Is Over
For months, it has been confusion, panic and double payment. The Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, has finally moved to end the shameful drama that has left thousands of students stranded — paying fees NELFUND had already paid.
On Wednesday, the Managing Director of the Fund, Akintunde Sawyerr, broke the news: NELFUND is now piloting a revolutionary token-based payment system.
How The New Token Magic Works
The system is simple but powerful. No more money passing through student accounts. No more stories.
Under the new arrangement, once your N200,000 tuition loan is approved, you will get an alert on your phone. You will open your NELFUND app and press a button to authorise payment directly to your school.
If you don’t push the button, the money goes nowhere. It cannot enter your personal account. It cannot be sent to another school. It cannot be diverted.
Sawyerr was blunt: “We’re not giving the students money, but we’re giving them power.”
The Executive Director of Operations, Mustapha Iyal, who confirmed the pilot has started, made it clearer: “It’s not a personal wallet, it’s not a mobile money wallet at all. It is a token locked to one institution.”
ALSO READ: NELFUND at risk: How Institutions are turning student loan scheme into cash cow
Why NELFUND Was Forced To Act
The Fund revealed it has received close to 400,000 applications and discovered a painful pattern.
Sawyerr painted the picture: NELFUND pays a school on Monday. The student, who never got a notification, panics because of registration deadline and borrows money to pay again on Wednesday. By Friday, the school has two payments for one student.
“It was a genuine error, no suspicion, no accusation, just genuine error,” Sawyerr explained. But the error left students chasing refunds for months.
The new token kills that problem at source. The student now sees the money and controls it.
What This Means For You
No more double payment. No more begging bursary for refund. No more borrowing to pay what government has already paid.
NELFUND says pilot is ongoing. No date yet for full rollout, but the message is clear — the era of blind payments is over.
For Nigerian students battling rising school fees, this is more than technology. It is power, control and relief.
