NELFUND Says ASUU Strike Won’t Affect Student Loan Operations

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has assured that the ongoing two-week warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will not disrupt its activities or delay student loan disbursements.

Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday, NELFUND Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Akintunde Sawyerr said the fund remained fully operational and confident that ongoing negotiations between the Federal Government and ASUU under the leadership of the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, would yield “fair and positive outcomes”.

“As you are aware, the strike has only just commenced, and I know that under the excellent leadership of the Honourable Minister for Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, the negotiations will continue to move forward,” Sawyerr said.

He explained that NELFUND was closely monitoring the situation to ensure students were not negatively affected, adding that the agency was taking guidance from the education minister on how to proceed as talks with ASUU continue.

“The reality of it is that we don’t want to see students affected negatively in any way. We are seeking guidance from the Honourable Minister, who is our leader in this regard, and I will take guidance from him as to the way this should move forward,” he said.

Sawyerr also disclosed that the loan application portal had been reopened over the weekend to enable tertiary institutions yet to complete their student verification exercise to do so.

According to a statement issued in Abuja by the Fund’s Director of Strategic Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, the portal remained accessible from Sunday, October 12, to Tuesday, October 14.

The extension, the statement said, was intended to ensure that all eligible students were duly verified by their institutions as part of the ongoing 2024/2025 NELFUND loan process.

Sawyerr stressed that NELFUND, as part of the current administration’s education reform drive, was designed to address structural challenges in the sector and would not be jeopardised by industrial disputes.

“Even though the funding that NELFUND is providing is for students, the rest of the ‘pie’, if you like, is also being addressed by the excellent leadership of Dr Tunji Alausa,” he said.

His comments came after the federal government directed universities to implement the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy against lecturers participating in the strike.

The directive, contained in a circular dated October 13 and signed by Dr Alausa, stated that the government was displeased with ASUU’s decision to embark on a nationwide strike despite ongoing negotiations.

ASUU President Chris Piwuna, however, dismissed the directive, saying the union “will not be intimidated by threats”.

“We don’t respond to threats, and nobody can threaten us,” he said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, insisting that all academic unions remained united in the strike action.