No fewer than 51 institutions have been fingered in illegal deductions and attendant exploitation of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) scheme.

It was learnt that the errant institutions make between N3,500 and N30,000 off each student?s institutional fee that was submitted and received from NELFUND.

NELFUND and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) had accused these institutions of engaging in ?deceptive practices? by collecting institutional fees from the government without refunding the full value to students at the point of disbursement.

They also accused the schools of a lack of transparency, for allegedly refusing to disclose disbursement records. The embroiled institutions include: Modibbo Adama University, Yola; Yaba College of Technology (YabaTech); Lagos State University of Education (LASUED); Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH); Niger Delta University; University of Port Harcourt; Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi; Kaduna State University and Federal University, Dutsinma.

They also include Ebonyi State University; Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa; University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN); Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO); Federal University of Health Sciences Otukpo, Benue State; Abia State University; Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA); Federal University Lokoja (FUL); University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID); Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, as well as Kano State University.

Also, on the list are the University of Calabar; Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE); Bayero University, Kano (BUK); University of Ilorin (UNILORIN); University of Abuja (UniAbuja); Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife; and Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State.

Windfall for varsities as students lament

Some of the students who shared their experiences with The Guardian said the schools added extra fees without any clear explanation on what they were meant for, while others refused to refund the fees already paid before NELFUND?s disbursement.

For instance, at the University of Jos (UNIJOS), instead of the N130,000 approved by the board as institutional fee, NELFUND disbursed between N145,000 and N150,000 per student, leaving a differential of N10,000 to N20,000 per student.

At Federal University, Lafia, instead of the approved N120,000 institutional fee, students were shown N148,500 on the NELFUND dashboard, which is N28,000 more than the actual fee.

At ATBU, instead of disbursing N110,000, the school charges N135,000, leaving an extra N25,000 on each student. The situation is the same at BUK, as the school charges N141,500 instead of N130,000, with N11,500 extra.

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, charges N125,000 instead of N105,000, which is N20,000 more than the institutional fees. At Niger Delta University, instead of the approved N145,000 institutional fee, the school charges N30,000 extra, making the total sum N175,000.

Similarly, Abia State University makes extra N7,500 on each student as it charges N132,500 instead of N125,000, while FUOYE makes extra N4,000, charging N124,000 instead of N120,000.

While UniAbuja makes N5,000 extra from the students, charging N128,000 instead of N123,000; UNILORIN makes N3,000 on each student, charging N110,000 instead of N107,000.

At OOU, students pay N135,500 instead of N132,500, with N3,000 difference, while UNN also charges N2,500 extra. N125,000 instead of N122,500.For students who had already paid their fees before NELFUND?s disbursement, getting the schools to refund was a major challenge.

Davo, a student at Taraba State University, said that from the N120,000 paid as tuition, the school refunded only N57,000 and withheld the balance of N63,000 for no reason.

At the University of Calabar, there are complaints that the institution demands N12,000 to generate a ?fees payment invoice? before it can refund the students. The fees, it was gathered, range from N114,000 to N193,000.

Baruwa Razak, a student of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, wondered why the institution withheld tuition fees already paid by students whose loans have been disbursed.

The same concern was echoed by Malvin Okeke, who accused the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), of refusing to refund the fees of the last academic session.

?UNN has still not refunded the school fees from last session. Many students applied for the loan but ended up paying school fees independently. UNN received the money from NELFUND and kept silent,? he said.

Also, Joshua Ali, a student of UNIJOS, said letters for refund since January 2025 had been ignored, even as others from ABU, FUTO, Rivers State University, LAUTECH, as well as UNILORIN, among others, shared similar experiences with their respective institutions.

A parent, Sunday Adedeji, expressed frustration, saying, ?Before the payment of my son?s NELFUND-approved loan at the start of the ongoing semester, FUTA mandated the students to pay at least 40 per cent of their school fees to be able to access the portal for registration. Three months after NELFUND payments, FUTA has yet to refund us.?

FUTA?s institutional fees range from N185,000 to N250,000, and investigations revealed that complaints of double payment have rent the air. When contacted, the spokesperson at Modibbo Adama University, Yola, Muhammad Nur, confirmed the situation, saying about 300 students were affected. Nur noted that the issue of double payment of institutional fees is not restricted to the school, as almost all universities are going through similar issues.

Nur explained that the rationale for physical verification as a condition for refund was implemented to resolve inconsistencies and ensure accuracy. On its part, FUTA management acknowledged that it received duplicate payments for institutional fees but pointed out that the institution is processing a refund for affected students.

FUTA?s Director of Corporate Communications, Adegbenro Adebanjo, said reimbursement would be done in batches and assured that due process would be followed.

Another reason for the slight delay in disbursement is that the fund was released in two tranches into the university?s CBN accounts. One batch is in the existing account, and the other is in a newly created account. The newly created account is yet to be linked to our payment platforms on Remita. We have written to the appropriate body to get the new account linked for the disbursement of funds.

?It should also be noted that the student?s account did not accompany the refund, and a painstaking process of linkage has to be done,? Adebanjo further explained.

Also, the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) described the allegations as untrue, insisting that the amount purportedly paid to the college is under verification by the CBN.

Spokesperson of the school, Adams Adekunle, called on students to exercise patience, as payment would be made in due course.

As the schools foot-drag in refunding their students, and agitations gather steam for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to wade into the matter, some analysts have called on NELFUND to pay fees directly to students instead of institutions.

They cited frustrations with bureaucratic delays for refunds, which have sparked discontent among beneficiaries. They argued that paying institutional fees directly to students would eliminate the risk of institutions misappropriating funds, reduce bureaucratic hurdles, and ensure timely payments.

They said this approach would also give students more control over their finances and prevent situations where institutions deduct unauthorised fees or fail to disclose disbursement altogether.

Findings showed that NELFUND has disbursed over N50 billion to about 300 public tertiary institutions across federal and state universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

It was also gathered that while 128 institutions received the disbursements in 2024, 171 institutions have collected in 2025. The agency had earlier raised the alarm over the failure of some institutions to inform their students of loan disbursements made on their behalf, while still demanding payment of institutional fees from the same students.

The agency, through its Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyer, said recent findings revealed that some institutions receive student loan disbursements directly into their accounts and refuse to notify the affected students or reflect the payments in their school fee records, creating unnecessary confusion.

He subsequently threatened legal action against the institutions, warning that withholding critical financial information from students is unethical and a direct violation of the principles upon which NELFUND was established.

If left unchecked, Sawyer warned that the practice could undermine President Bola Tinubu?s genuine intentions for the student loan programme. He noted that not holding these institutions accountable would sabotage the president?s education vision, emphasising equity, inclusiveness, and fairness.

Similarly, in a statement, NOA said it had uncovered several unethical practices by some institutions. Already, the agency has directed its state directorates to provide further feedback from students across the country to ensure that the federal government takes appropriate action against erring schools.

Speaking through its community orientation and mobilisation officers (COMO), the agency added: ?The NOA feedback showed how specific institutions have deliberately delayed payments to successful applicants for personal financial benefit, in connivance with some banks. Some universities even fail to acknowledge NELFUND?s disbursements to students.?

The Initiator, Creative Change Centre, Omole Ibukun, expressed concern that the scheme has been ?turned into a corrupt venture by schools? less than one year after its launch.

Ibukun argued that the scheme has not only doubled the hardship of students but has left those who qualified for the credit facility confused. To address the issue, he tasked the federal government to introduce free education, democratise school governance and establish student oversight committees, to ensure participatory budgeting and access to financial records.

?This is a betrayal of the principles of accountability and transparency that should be taught by example at our ivory towers. ?This discovery only confirms our earlier position that the loan would never benefit Nigerian students. Not only did the loan become the basis for the institutions to increase fees by about 500 per cent in some cases, but the fact that a few percentage of students who have access to the loan are being swindled by their own in loco parentis is nothing but a shameful betrayal,? Ibukun lamented. He noted that the only solution to access and affordability is reducing school fees to the barest minimum or making it free.

?The concealment of this financial information will lead to many students dropping out. They applied for the loan because they couldn?t pay, but this concealment not only denies students the knowledge necessary to determine the fate of their studentship but also denies the public the information needed to audit the success or failure of the student loan scheme.

This discovery has shown the major inherent flaws of the loan scheme. It encourages the commodification of education, corrupt instrumentalisation of public funds, and perpetuation of students? dependency, rather than empowerment.?

While urging the affected students to take legal action against the schools, Ibukun said NELFUND should do better by constituting student oversight committees that will have access to all financial records related to disbursements and other financials of the institutions for participatory budgeting, where students co-decide on the allocation and use of institutional funds.

Besides, he maintained that all the institutions guilty of this crime must refund the double payments. The President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Olushola Oladoja, said the association has launched a full-scale investigation into the matter. He disclosed that part of the probe is to meet with NELFUND and other relevant agencies to get to the root of the matter. (The Guardian, but headline rejigged)

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