Bauchi, Nigeria – Fahad Abdullahi, President of the Student Union Government (SUG) at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), revealed in an interview on Tuesday that 3,100 out of the university’s 25,000 students applied for financial support under the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
The government-backed initiative disbursed a total of N256 million to ATBU, benefiting around 3,300 students with school fees, institutional loans, and upkeep allowances. Abdullahi highlighted the union’s efforts to increase awareness and mobilize student participation in the scheme, noting that sensitization activities had been ramped up.
The SUG also made efforts to address application-related issues by visiting the NELFUND office. Abdullahi cited several obstacles hindering smooth application, including the absence of certain banks on the portal, missing JAMB admission numbers for some students, and the lack of an editing feature to allow corrections during the application process.
The NELFUND has promised to introduce new features to the portal to streamline the process and address these concerns.
One of the loan recipients, Adetoye Olubunmi, praised the initiative, calling it a valuable opportunity to further education and promote academic excellence. However, Mohammed Hassan, another student, attributed the low participation in the loan scheme to a general disinterest among students, many of whom prefer sponsorships to loans that require repayment. Hassan emphasized the need for more extensive sensitization to boost student engagement in the program.
