WorldStage– The Managing Director of NELFUND, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, has dismissed any allegations of geopolitical bias or marginalization in the selection process for disbursement of loan fund by the organization.
Official statistics released by the Fund had shown that Southeast geopolitical zone recorded the lowest number of beneficiaries under it, compared to the country’s other five regions, exposing a sharp imbalance in the distribution of the federal student loan scheme.
According to official statistics, a total of ₦355.87 billion has been disbursed over its 27 months of operation, covering 1.81 million students across 319 public tertiary institutions.
However, regional data shows that the Southeast accounted for only 108,000 beneficiaries, lagging significantly behind the remaining five geopolitical zones.
The Northwest zone leads the nation with 450,000 individual student beneficiaries while the Northeast follows with 378,103.
The Southwest recorded 360,000 beneficiaries alongside the highest total volume of funds received, the North Central and South South zones registered 324,908 and 198,000 beneficiaries, respectively, placing the Southeast at the absolute bottom of national participation.
Reacting to the development, the NELFUND boss, Mr. Sawyerr, rejected any hint of geopolitical bias or marginalization in the selection process.
He explained that the system was strictly designed around merit and response rates, attributing the Southeast’s low numbers partly to cultural attitudes toward borrowing, skepticism, and misconceptions about the programme.
Additionally, officials noted that several tertiary institutions in the region initial delayed or completely failed to respond to verification lists sent by NELFUND to confirm student data, effectively locking their students out of early disbursement windows.
Furthermore, student union representatives from institutions across Anambra, Ebonyi, and Enugu states expressed that fear of long-term indebtedness, complex repayment uncertainties, and poor sensitization inside campuses contributed heavily to the low application rates.
While education stakeholders and Vice-Chancellors in the Southeast have decried this trend as worrisome, the Southeast Caucus of the National Assembly has recently intensified sensitization efforts, urging regional tertiary institutions to fast-track compliance with NELFUND’s verification requests to bridge the glaring educational funding gap.
