The Southeast caucus in the National Assembly has alerted the country to the non-inclusion of tertiary institutions of Southeast origin in the disbursed students’ loan scheme of the federal government.
The caucus in a statement signed by the duo of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Leader of the Caucus in the Senate), and Igariwey Enwo (Leader of the Caucus in the House of Representatives) said of a “Total of N2,946,927,155 already disbursed to 27,667 from 19 institutions in the country, South East higher institutions were conspicuously missing from the list.”
The caucus queried the rationale behind the region’s exclusion by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
It revealed that NELFUND claimed “That the absence of beneficiaries from South East institutions was because even though verification lists have been sent to all schools, South East institutions are yet to respond to their request for the verification of the lists sent to them.”
This is as it tasked tertiary institutions in the area to align with the objectives of the programme “So that our children can benefit from this national programme.”
Hence, the caucus urged tertiary institutions in the region to comply with the verification request by NELFUND, as it encouraged “all South East students who need this support to ensure they apply. This is important as it can help ameliorate some of the challenges limiting access to higher education, which we must all agree is critical to self-development and growth.”
