‘You can’t’ — NELFUND boss rejects claims of political screening in student loans

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has dismissed claims that the student loan scheme favours supporters of the ruling party.

Sawyerr described the allegation as “completely ridiculous.” He said the loan application system cannot identify students by their political affiliations.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme on Sunday, Sawyerr said applicants only provide basic details. These include their names and matriculation numbers.

He explained that NELFUND did not design the electronic system to identify students who belong to political parties.

“I have not heard this allegation, but I can tell you that it’s a completely ridiculous idea that the administration of Bola Tinubu is focused on trying to fund people who support the party,” Sawyerr said.

He noted that many beneficiaries have not yet voted. Others will vote for the first time.

Sawyerr also questioned how the government could determine students’ party affiliations through a manual process.

“We are talking about students; many of them are yet to vote, some of them are going to be voting for the first time, [and] many of them are not party members,” he said.

“How, in any event, do we determine who is a party member and who isn’t? Even if you are running a manual process, how do you do that? You can’t. It’s unlikely to yield you any result.”

Sawyerr maintained that NELFUND focuses on students’ eligibility and basic identification details when processing applications.

The scheme does not consider applicants’ political affiliations. He said