Student Loan: NELFUND laments low turnout of female applicants 

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund has said the ratio of females in tertiary institutions accessing the loans compared to males was not impressive.

The Fund’s Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyerr, made this known in Abuja during the International Women’s Day celebration.

Represented by Oluwatosin Sanusi, NELFUND’s Head of Investments and Funds Management, Sawyerr said one out of every five applications for the education loan fund is female, which is not encouraging.

“The NELFUND initiative is all about providing loans for students in tertiary institutions to pay for their fees and to take care of their welfare. There is also another part of the initiative which is the skill acquisition. It is underway, and it would also cover educational fees and fund purchases of equipment for entrepreneurship training.The skills acquisition programme places students on a monthly stipend, which is laudable; however, we have fewer women who are taking advantage of this initiative. Currently, we have a ratio of 4 to 1, which means for every four male applicants, we have just one female, which isn’t impressive,” he said.

Sawyerr said that NELFUND was working with women stakeholders to create awareness of the initiative and encourage female students to partake and enjoy the benefits of the dividends of democracy.

However, he emphasised that loan repayment upon graduation and employment was crucial for the programme’s sustainability.

Sawyerr explained that timely repayment would allow the initiative to expand, enabling more students across all government-owned institutions to benefit.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Education, Dr Suwaiba Ahmed, lauded the federal government’s initiative.