The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), established in 2024, plays a crucial role in empowering Nigerian students by providing loan facilities to support their educational journeys. Since its inception, NELFUND has successfully disbursed funds to over 100,000 students, covering tuition fees and monthly stipends, thereby helping them to remain in school.

However, NELFUND has recently issued a strong warning regarding a fraudulent online loan portal designed to mimic its official website. This fake portal is actively circulating misleading messages, falsely claiming that President Bola Tinubu has directed the “reopening” of the NELFUND Student Loan portal. The fraudulent message includes a deceptive link: https://nelfund-student-loan-2025.po-rt-al.com/NELFUND/. Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, NELFUND’s Director of Strategic Communications, categorically stated that this website is fake and the information it disseminates is false and misleading. The public, especially students, parents, and guardians, are urged to exercise extreme caution and avoid clicking on such unverified links or submitting any personal or financial information on suspicious websites.

NELFUND has clarified that all official information and announcements will be disseminated exclusively through its verified platforms. The only legitimate portal for student loan applications is https://nelf.gov.ng. For reporting suspicious messages and website links, individuals are advised to contact NELFUND via email at [email protected]. Furthermore, NELFUND maintains official social media presence on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) under the handle @nelfund, and on Facebook and LinkedIn as “Nigerian Education Loan Fund – NELFUND,” which serve as reliable sources for current information.

In a bid to enhance transparency, safety, and fairness in the loan application process, and to combat fraudulent activities, NELFUND announced plans to deploy dedicated IT teams to linked institutions across Nigeria. This initiative aims to directly integrate a ‘Student Loan’ payment option onto university portals, a move expected to significantly ease the application process and prevent fraud involving various stakeholders. Akintunde Sawyerr, the Managing Director of NELFUND, emphasized that this proposed integration would eliminate several bottlenecks in the student loan application process.

It is important to reiterate NELFUND’s policy regarding the disbursement of funds: tuition fees are disbursed directly to the educational institutions, not to the individual students. In a related development, NELFUND has issued a stern warning to institutions, threatening legal action against any found to be extorting students or withholding vital information after loans have been disbursed. This measure addresses concerns where some institutions were reportedly still demanding tuition fees from students even after NELFUND had processed and disbursed the said fees, or in some cases, allegedly collecting higher fees than stipulated from NELFUND itself.