The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), thegovernment agency in charge of student loans in Nigeria, has disbursed a total of N23 billion to several individuals and 128 tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Speaking to newsmen, Akintunde Sawyerr, its Managing Director, disclosed that N18 billion has been channelled to the institutions while about N5 billion has been disbursed for students’ upkeep.

NELFUND was set up by the federal government to ensure that students who are in school do not drop out due to lack of funds.

Students register for the loans online, and all the approval process happen online.

So far, Sawyerr revealed that 326,000 individuals have applied for the loan, which they can do only once a year, and once accepted, NELFUND pays monthly upkeep to the students directly to their bank accounts.