The House of Representatives Committee on Student Loans, Scholarships and Higher Education Financing has threatened sanctions against tertiary institutions that fail to comply with the administration of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) scheme.
The committee warned that institutions withholding loan funds released for verified beneficiaries, delaying refunds to students who had paid their tuition fees before disbursement, or making partial refunds could face penalties.
The committee chairman, Ifeoluwa Ehindero, disclosed this in a statement following monitoring activities and engagements that revealed compliance concerns among some beneficiary institutions.
The statement said the practices “constitute serious compliance concerns, undermine transparency and accountability, erode students’ confidence in the system and may threaten equitable access to funding for higher education”.
It added that prolonged delays in processing payment notifications and refunds could disrupt students’ academic progress and worsen their financial difficulties.
The committee urged heads of beneficiary institutions to ensure that their bursars, directors of information and communications technology and NELFUND desk officers strictly complied with the guidelines governing the administration of the scheme.
“All beneficiary institutions are hereby directed to ensure that NELFUND funds received on behalf of students are promptly and fully applied for the intended purpose, including appropriate refunds where applicable,” the statement said.
Ehindero warned that the committee would invoke relevant sanctions against institutions found to have deliberately violated the guidelines.
“The Committee will continue to exercise its oversight responsibilities and where deliberate non-compliance is established, the Committee shall be left with no other option than to invoke relevant sanctions under Section 5.6 of the NELFUND Guidelines,” he said.
The sanctions include suspension of defaulting institutions from the scheme, recovery of funds and referral to relevant law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
The committee said the measures were intended to strengthen enforcement, promote transparency and improve accountability in the administration of student loans.
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It reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that the Federal Government’s efforts to expand access to affordable higher education were not undermined by institutional failures.
The statement added that the committee remained committed to ensuring that “no student is denied the benefit of funds legitimately provided for their education”.
