The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has refuted allegations of misappropriation and mismanagement of student loan funds.
In a statement on Thursday, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, NELFund’s director of strategic communications, said some media reports are circulating “unverified, context-free, and inflammatory” claims suggesting that the fund mismanaged student loan monies.
It said these allegations are “false, grossly irresponsible, and damaging” to the integrity of the scheme.
TheCable earlier reported that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) commenced an investigation into alleged discrepancies in the disbursement of student loan funds.
A report had claimed that 51 tertiary institutions were involved in illegal deductions and exploitation related to the NELFund scheme.
The ICPC said that of the N100 billion released by the federal government reportedly for the student loan scheme, only N28.8 billion had been disbursed to students as of the time of the report, leaving about N71.2 billion unaccounted for.
It noted that a special task force within the ICPC has issued letters of investigation and invited key stakeholders, including the director general of the budget office, the accountant general of the federation, and officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Akintunde Sawyerr, NELFund’s managing director, has also been invited to provide relevant documentation.
More to follow…
