The federal government has announced that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) will now allocate 30 per cent of its funds from the federation account to support student loans under the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
Special adviser to the president on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this yesterday while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa.
He said the move was part of the proposed amendments to the Economic Stabilisation Bill currently before the National Assembly.
He said the amendment to the 2011 TETFund Act is a crucial element of the bill that would directly impact Nigerian students.
“The other one is the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Amendment Bill 2024. Why it’s important is that it has an element there that affects the Nigerian Loan Education Fund. Some of us have been wondering how we are going to fund the NELFUND, and the government has an answer. Most of the funding will come from the money going to TETFund,” Onanuga said.
He further clarified that before TETFund disburses its funds, it would now set aside 30 per cent of its allocation to be transferred to NELFUND, providing a dedicated source of funding for student loans.
Addressing concerns about the potential impact of the amendment on TETFund’s ability to support public tertiary institutions, Onanuga assured that the fund’s interventions would not be compromised.
He noted that since its inception, TETFund had played a visible role in improving infrastructure across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
“TETFund has been doing a lot of work helping universities, not just on university education, but also colleges of education and polytechnics.
The government must have looked at the money accruing to it and felt that maybe if you take away 30%, it will also help the students who go to these schools,” he said.
Onanuga explained that the 30 percent allocation to NELFUND was intended as supplementary support, while the federal government will continue to provide budgetary allocations to fully fund the loan scheme for students.
“So that may be the logic of government—that TETFund should also fund NELFUND. And NELFUND money will not only come from TETFund but there will also be budgetary allocation from the federal government all the time. So this one is supplementary.”
READ ALSO: FG Proposes NIN Amendment to include Foreigners in Tax Payments Acts
Also speaking, O’tega Ogra, Senior Special Assistant on Digital/New Media, recalled that during the #EndBadGovernance protests, President Tinubu announced that financial recoveries from illegal activities would be allocated to support the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
He stated, “The President assured that funds recovered from illegal activities would be used to bolster NELFUND.”
“Universities can now fully utilize their IGR to support their operations,” he explained. Acknowledging existing funding gaps, Ogra stated, “We know that more funding is needed, but these measures are interim steps to bridge those gaps.”
According to him, this change aims to bolster student enrollment in public higher institutions by redirecting funds from infrastructure projects. The government also plans to provide additional budgetary allocations and utilize financial recoveries from illegal activities to fund NELFUND.
Tegra also noted that the government has waived the requirement for public higher institutions to remit a portion of their internally generated revenue to the federal government, allowing them to better support their operations.
