The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has commenced a thorough investigation of the alleged discrepancies in the disbursement of student loans under the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), especially based on alleged unaccounted sum of N71.2 billion.
The Commission, in a statement issued on the probe on Thursday, disclosed that the Chief Executive Officer of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyer, some Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) staff, and others had been invited to clarify their roles in the disbursement of the fund.
Recently, media reports alleged that no fewer than 51 tertiary institutions were implicated for making unauthorized deductions, ranging from N3,500 to N30,000 from each student’s institutional fees paid through the loan fund and other abuses of the NELFUND scheme.
According to the anti-graft commission, its preliminary findings revealed significant gaps in the financial records of the disbursement process.
The Commission reported that while the Federal Government reportedly released N100 billion for the scheme, only N28.8 billion was disbursed to students, leaving an unaccounted balance of N71.2 billion.
It stated that following this discovery, its Chairman’s Special Task Force immediately swung into action and letters of investigation and invitations were dispatched to key stakeholders, including the Director- General of the Budget Office, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), and senior officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The ICPC further confirmed that the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of NELFUND were invited to provide documentation and explanations relevant to the case, adding that the responses received from them were critically analyzed, and interviews were conducted with the individuals concerned.
According to the Commission, its investigations showed that the total amount received by NELFUND was N203.8 billion.
It clarified: “The breakdown showed that N10 billion was an allocation from the Federation Allocation Account Committee, N50 billion came from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and N71.9 billion was received twice from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.”
However, the anti-graft agency disclosed that the total amount disbursed to institutions from inception to date totalled N44,200,933,649.00, with 299 institutions and 293,178 students having benefited from the released funds.
The ICPC maintained that the situation clearly reflected discrepancies in the administration of the student loan scheme, stressing that its investigation will now extend to beneficiary institutions and individual student recipients.
It would be recalled that NELFUND Act was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on April 3, 2024 as part of his administration’s efforts towards ensuring sustainable higher education and functional skill development for students and other young Nigerians to boost the nation’s economic growth.