Today in Nigeria, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, is a visible reality. Signed into law on 3 April 2024, it has already disbursed over N206 billion to 1.16 million students in public tertiary institutions. I am one of them. From my 300 level to graduation, NELFUND paid my tuition and gave me N20,000 monthly upkeep. That is the reality for hundreds of thousands of us who would have dropped out. It has removed shame from our families and kept lecture halls open to the poor.
The reality on campuses is clear. Children of farmers, traders, drivers, and widows now write exams without being chased out of halls. N128.8 billion has gone directly to institutions for tuition, while N77.4 billion has reached students as upkeep. The Vice Chancellor of Sokoto State University states that NELFUND ‘accorded opportunity to less privileged families’ and eased financial constraints. This is governance touching the powerless, and it is happening now, not tomorrow.
But there is another reality we cannot ignore. Walk through any city or village today and you will see it. Children are hawking pure water at 10 a.m. Teenagers cannot spell their names because their parents could not pay N3,000 PTA levy. Nigeria currently has over 10.5 million out-of-school children. These children are real. They are growing up without a First School Leaving Certificate or SSCE. And without SSCE, they are permanently locked out of university and permanently locked out of NELFUND.
This is the reality of our education system: we are funding the roof while the foundation is collapsing. NELFUND’s mandate to ‘democratize access to higher education’ is working for those who reach the door of a university. But millions never get to that door because Primary 1, Primary 4, or JSS1 defeated them with fees their parents could not pay. Right now, the academic ladder is broken at the bottom, and the pain is felt in every LGA.
The reality therefore demands that we extend the NELFUND framework to primary and secondary schools immediately. Not as a loan, but as a Basic Education Support Fund using the same zero interest-free, digital, NIN/BVN-verified system that disbursed N206.2bn ‘without the usual theatre of scandals’. Let it cover approved levies, uniforms, and textbooks in public schools across the 774 LGAs. The technology exists. The model exists. The need exists today.
The real strength of NELFUND is that I did not need to know a Senator to benefit. I applied with my NIN and matric number, and it was approved. That is the reality of equity we must extend downward.
Mr. President, this is not about the future alone. This is about today. Today, children are out of school. Today, parents are burdened. Today, NELFUND cannot reach those without SSCE. The only way for all citizens to access education from primary to tertiary, and for the less-privileged to benefit without following those in power, is to act now. Let us make education total. Let us make Nigeria proud. The reality we create today will be the nation we live in tomorrow.
God bless you, Your Excellency. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.