The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has raised concerns over the low student loan applications at the Rivers State University.
The Managing Director, NELFUND, Mr Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this during the Strategic Engagement and Sensitisation Campaign on operations of the fund on Tuesday in Port Harcourt.
Represented by the Director of Administration at NELFUND, Dr Zino Ugboma, Sawyerr said while the primary purpose of the visit was to strengthen ties with the university, a recent internal review revealed troubling statistics related to student participation in their programmes.
He explained that the data presented showed a low registration rate, noting that the University of Port Harcourt has 3,000 applications while the Rivers State University has 1,500.
“Going through our records, we discovered something that is not too pleasant in relation to your university. For a university, we have up to 4,000 applicants, people who have registered to this team.”
“At the University of Port Harcourt, we have up to 3,000 people who have registered to this team. And then for Rivers State University, we have approximately 1,500 applicants,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of the visit, the managing director called for stronger discussion to identify and resolve the issues.
“We want to know what the problem is, the money is there. It’s meant to be disbursed to these young people. Let us work together to solve this,” he said.
Responding, the vice chancellor of the university, Prof. Isaac Zeb-Obipi, acknowledged a troubling gap in student engagement and pledged transparency and collaboration to address the issue.
Represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration, Prof. Victor Akujuru, he promised that both organisations would work collaboratively in the coming weeks to address the concerns raised.
“We are again grateful for flagging our university’s situation and for taking the time to look in on us to find out why we are lagging behind.
“I must admit that the figures are quite a difference, 1,500 out of a nearly 40,000 student capacity is a concern.
“In a show of readiness to confront the problem, the Vice Chancellor had specifically requested the attendance of the Director of ICT and the head of student affairs.”
Also, the President, Student Union Government (SUG), Rizi Owabie, reaffirmed the union’s support for the government-backed funding programme, emphasising continued efforts to raise awareness among students.
Owabie noted that information had been disseminated both formally and informally, including during student receptions and one-on-one interactions, while promising to intensify its awareness creation on the importance of the loan.
