By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
Students under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigerian Students, blocked the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Camp section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, to protest the alleged mismanagement of N100billion funds allocated to the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
The blocking of both sides of the busiest highways in the country by the protesting students, however, caused gridlock as the vehicular movement was halted for more than one hour.
Addressing newsmen from a text jointly signed by the National Vice President, Inter-Campus and Gender Affairs of NANS and the Ogun State Chairman of NANS, Akinbodunse Sileola Felicia and Gabriel Abiola Francis, respectively, Gabriel explained that students were mobilized to block the ever-busy expressway in order to get attention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take decisive action on the graft discovered in the disbursement of student loans.
The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and Related Offences (ICPC) in a statement by its spokesperson, Demola Bakare, last Thursday, said the anti-graft agency had launched a comprehensive investigation into discrepancies in the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) student loan disbursements.
Bakare added that the probe was as a result of reports implicating 51 tertiary institutions in unauthorised deductions of N3,500 to N30,000 from students’ institutional fees funded by NELFUND.
He noted further that preliminary findings revealed a significant gap in the financial records of the disbursement process.
While the federal government reportedly allocated N100 billion, only N28.8 billion reached students, leaving N71.2 billion unaccounted for.
Bakare further informed that the ICPC’s Chairman’s Special Task Force acted swiftly, inviting stakeholders, including the Director General of the Budget Office, the Accountant General of the Federation, Central Bank of Nigeria officials, and NELFUND’s CEO and Executive Director for documentation and interviews.
The investigation revealed NELFUND received N203.8 billion as of March 19, 2024, comprising N10billion from the Federation Allocation Account Committee, N50billion from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and two N71.9 billion tranches from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
