The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced a new policy that directly links the disbursement of student upkeep loans to their institution’s official academic calendar.
According to the Fund’s Director of Strategic Communications, Mrs. Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, upkeep support will now be provided only for a student’s current academic session.
Payments will automatically stop at the end of an institution’s academic year.
This means students must reapply for both tuition and upkeep loans at the start of each new session.
To facilitate this change, NELFUND has upgraded its digital portal to manage session-based disbursements, which will now display only the upkeep funds collected per session for greater transparency.
NELFUND urged higher institutions to promptly upload their academic calendars to ensure students can access their entitlements without disruption.
The agency reiterated its commitment to providing accessible and efficient loan support.
In related news, NELFUND is expanding its services.
It recently piloted a vocational loan program in Enugu and plans to launch a centralized job portal by 2026 to connect graduates with employment opportunities.
The agency called on all institutions to upload their academic calendars promptly to prevent any disruptions in payment for students.
Beyond academic loans, NELFUND is also broadening its scope to include vocational training and plans to launch a job portal for graduates in 2026.
Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.
Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.
He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.
Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).
He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.
He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.
Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.
