By Nkechi Eze
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) have moved to strengthen safeguards against the diversion of education loan funds and ensure that approved financial support gets directly to eligible students.
The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, made this known on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, in Abuja during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two institutions to strengthen collaboration, prevent financial infractions and promote accountability in the management of funds allocated for educational support.
Under the agreement, the EFCC and NELFUND will establish a joint Fraud Assessment and Control Unit to assess risks, identify vulnerabilities and ensure compliance with established guidelines governing the disbursement of student loans.
Olukoyede said the partnership was designed to prioritise prevention of financial crimes rather than waiting until funds were diverted before taking action.
“There are certain things you might not have addressed your mind to, because that is what we do. We could give all your attention to it. We don’t have to necessarily wait for money to be stolen before we go into action. Why can’t we provide more prevention?” he said.
The EFCC chairman described NELFUND as one of the major legacy initiatives of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration and commended its management for expanding access to education financing.
He said the EFCC’s responsibility extended beyond recovering proceeds of crime to ensuring that recovered funds were deployed productively for the benefit of Nigerians.
Olukoyede said the Commission’s interest in NELFUND was also informed by the need to address vulnerabilities among young people, noting that a significant proportion of persons investigated for cybercrime were young people, including students.
He said recovered proceeds of crime could be channelled into programmes that provide legitimate opportunities for young Nigerians and reduce vulnerabilities that could expose them to economic crimes.
The EFCC chairman urged NELFUND to strengthen mechanisms for direct payment to verified beneficiaries, with educational institutions playing a role in authenticating students and ensuring that only qualified applicants receive the funds.
“Let it go directly to the human beings,” Olukoyede said, stressing the need to eliminate unnecessary intermediaries in the disbursement process.
He also advised NELFUND to access only funds legitimately allocated to it and ensure that such resources were deployed promptly for their intended purposes.
Olukoyede expressed confidence that the MoU would strengthen risk assessment, improve accountability and establish controls capable of protecting the student loan scheme beyond the tenure of the current leadership of both institutions.
Earlier, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyer, said the organisation had processed about 1.6 million applications, with approximately 960,000 loans approved.
Sawyer said NELFUND had upgraded its systems and launched a new portal through which applications, approvals and disbursements were processed electronically.
According to him, payments are made through formal banking channels, with funds transferred directly to students’ bank accounts without the use of cash.
He said the system uses identifiers including the National Identification Number (NIN), Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) registration details, matriculation numbers and Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) to authenticate beneficiaries.
Sawyer said the electronic system was designed to create an audit trail for every transaction and eliminate opportunities for manipulation or unnecessary intermediaries.
He said applicants were not required to have personal connections within NELFUND to access the student loan scheme, adding that the organisation had deliberately designed the process to minimise human interference.
The NELFUND chief executive said the institution was also focused on building systems and checks that would remain effective beyond the tenure of individual officials.
He expressed appreciation to the EFCC for its role in recovering proceeds of crime that had supported NELFUND’s mandate, saying the new partnership would help ensure that recovered funds were protected from diversion and ultimately reach their intended beneficiaries.
