The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has cautioned tertiary institutions against unreasonable tuition fee increases, warning that schools found to be hiking charges unfairly risk losing access to student loan payments under the scheme.

NELFUND Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Akintunde Sawyer, disclosed this during an interview on TVC News Breakfast on Wednesday.

He said some institutions had increased their fees following the introduction of the student loan scheme, but noted that the agency had, in several instances, refused to pay charges it considered unreasonable.

“Some schools have gone out on a limb to increase their fees unfairly. We have addressed that by introducing some new guidelines and being very stern with the institutions whose fees have been hiked, that we will not pay unreasonable fees.”

According to him, NELFUND introduced new guidelines specifically to prevent institutions from taking advantage of the increased liquidity created by the student financing programme.

Sawyer added that some institutions subsequently reversed their fee increases after realising they stood to lose revenue if NELFUND declined to fund the inflated charges, a development he cited as evidence that the agency’s firm stance was already yielding results.

Speaking on the concerns over delays in the disbursement of upkeep allowances, Sawyer said the agency’s target was to process applications within approximately 45 days.

However, he explained that actual payment could take longer in practice, since institutions are required to verify applicants before NELFUND can release funds.

He said NELFUND typically forwards applications to institutions for verification after about 30 days of internal processing, with schools then expected to complete their part of the verification exercise within 15 days.

Sawyer acknowledged that while some institutions process applications within a matter of days, others take considerably longer, adding that the overall speed of payment was therefore not entirely within NELFUND’s control.

He disclosed that the agency currently pays upkeep allowances directly into students’ bank accounts, and that between 850,000 and 900,000 students had received the allowance as at the time of the interview.

Responding to complaints that some institutions may be charging students additional fees simply to access NELFUND funding, Sawyer said he was not personally aware of such practices, but warned that the agency would act decisively against any institution found to be creating barriers to the scheme.

“We will not allow that to happen under any circumstances,” he said.

Sawyer also defended NELFUND’s financial controls, stating that more than N322 billion in public funds disbursed by the agency was fully traceable through electronic transactions. He said no NELFUND funds were disbursed in cash, with all payments to institutions and individual beneficiaries processed electronically.

According to him, the agency remains subject to both internal and external audits, in addition to oversight from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the National Assembly and other relevant regulatory bodies.

“We have a very robust internal system that tries to ensure that nobody, absolutely nobody, can move funds without all eyes being on it.”

He added that NELFUND was also governed by data protection laws designed to safeguard the personal and financial information of its millions of beneficiaries nationwide.

The scheme currently covers publicly owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, with Sawyer stressing that federal and state-owned polytechnics were fully covered under the programme. (The Guardian)