By Adegbite Taoheed
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has disclosed the fund’s plan for students to repay back the loan.
Sawyer, while speaking on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today, explained that students who take loans from the fund are expected to report to NELFUND two years after completion of their mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
According to him, the law guiding the operation of the fund gives the two-year post-NYSC window for reporting.
He said, “So, it’s a loan. There’s certainly an expectation to pay back. The law requires the actual reporting of your status to begin two years after your national youth service corps.
“You’re expected to come back to NELFUND to say look, two years have gone since I did my national youth service corps, now; I’m in a position to begin to pay or I’m not in a position to pay.
“As long as we get that reporting at regular intervals, who would be able to determine who needs to pay and when. But the minimum time that we expect you to report back to us is two years after youth corps.”
When asked on whether there’s a moratorium for those who may not secure jobs after the NYSC, he answered in affirmative, adding however that if an individual fails to get a job after four years, the fund will not go after them, rather expect them to report regularly to NELFUND.