By: Abdulrasheed Olokoto

The Managing director, Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has stated that the beneficiaries of the student loan scheme will be subjected to repayment process  two years after their National Youth Service Corps Program.

Mr Sawyerr disclosed this while fielding Press questions in Abuja, Nigeria.

He explained further that the repayment responsibility primarily rests on employers of graduates who benefited from the scheme.

“There is a requirement for people to start paying back the loan. But that requirement is placed upon the employers – the people who employed beneficiaries of the loan. The requirement from them is that they pay 10 per cent of that person’s income monthly to the Nel Fund,” he said.

According to him, the repayment will be made monthly, even if the employee is paid weekly or bi-weekly, to ensure a smooth and consistent repayment process.

“We do not have any intention of forcing people to pay NELFUND back, other than the employers. If employers engage people with NELFUND loans and they don’t pay us their 10 per cent back monthly, we can go after the employers,” he added.

However, Mr Sawyerr noted that self-employed beneficiaries are expected to make their own 10 per cent deductions and pay directly to NELFUND.

He also disclosed that there is an existing legal backing, Global Standing Instruction (GSI) system, to recover funds from defaulters who attempt to evade repayment when they have money in their bank accounts.

“People sign up for this when they take the loan. We’re not ashamed about it. It is important that we protect the government’s money, in order to get some money back for their younger brothers and sisters that are coming up the line. We have to keep the programme sustainable,” he stated.

Addressing the concerns of restriction of the beneficiaries’ freedom to travel abroad, Mr Sawyerr clarified that NELFUND loans do not impose any form of travel ban or control on recipients.

“The fact that you take a loan from us does not mean you are a slave to the government or to NELFUND. The bottom line is that there is an expectation that, if your country does something for you, you should pay it back because there are other people who need it as well. So, people can travel. They can do whatever they need to do,” he clarified.

He therefore called on the beneficiaries abroad to fulfil their repayment obligations once they begin to earn income, citing that the initiative is a social investment, not a profit-making venture.

Credit: People’s Gazette