The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced plans to expand its student loan scheme to include vocational and skills acquisition centres across the country, beginning with Enugu State.
This development was made known in a statement released on Friday during a strategic engagement and sensitisation campaign held in Enugu. The event was attended by officials from NELFUND and representatives of the Enugu State Government. The rollout of the scheme is expected within the next six to eight weeks.
Akintunde Sawyerr, Managing Director of NELFUND, stressed the Fund’s commitment to supporting technical education in various skill areas across Nigeria, such as fashion design and other trades. He revealed that Enugu has been chosen as the launch state for the initiative.
“The Managing Director/Chief Executive of NELFUND, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, alongside the Executive Director of Operations, Mr. Mustapha Iyal, led a NELFUND delegation to Enugu State for a strategic engagement session with key stakeholders.
“The visit, held in collaboration with the Enugu State Ministry of Education, included interactive sessions with representatives of tertiary institutions and traditional rulers, aimed at deepening awareness and strengthening partnerships for the successful implementation of NELFUND’s initiatives.
“We are working on it now, and we’re going to have some discussions with the executive governor and his team, because we want to start it here.
“The president has also instructed that we focus on areas where the governments or the institutions of state and instruments are ready to work with us, so that we can have a quick takeoff. I think that within the next six to eight weeks, you will see us kick something off,” he said.
During a visit to the Enugu Garments and Fashion Hub, NELFUND’s Executive Director of Operations, Mustapha Iyal, noted that Enugu demonstrated strong readiness and had impressive infrastructure in place. He remarked that the state had some of the best training centres NELFUND had seen so far.
“Presently, we have other states, almost more than 10 states that we have seen such, but then, Enugu is one of the best.
“Enugu is going to be one of the first states or one of the first locations we are looking at to start. With what I see, there is a lot of positivity.
“We have seen different skill centres from the technical colleges to the vocational skill centres, like the fashion design, and they are all very positive for us at NELFUND. I would not say that Enugu will be the only state, but one of the first states to start with,” he said.
Mustapha also gave insight into how the scheme would function. Applicants will be able to register through an online portal once it is live. The loan will cover training fees, provide upkeep stipends, and offer basic tools upon completion of the training.
“We are going to have these centres in place to say if you apply from Enugu, this is where to go in Enugu. We are going to pay for their training costs, we are going to be giving them upkeep, and at the end of the day, they will have some working tools when they finish their training.”
“We are still trying to complete that into our guidelines. The training costs are based on what the centre is proposing, that’s what we are paying, but the institutional charges are going to be part of the loan because it’s to support them with the transport coming to these skill centres.
“It’s a work in progress, and the country is always evolving. The government is seeing the value in skills and vocation just to support the community.”
Arinze Chilo-Offiah, Special Adviser to the Governor on Digital Economy and MSMEs and Director General of the Enugu SME Centre, reaffirmed the state’s commitment to empowering young people through skill development.
“We just wanted to show them the world-class facilities we have here to let NELFUND know that we are ready to key into the skills acquisition component of the fund.
“One component is to take care of school fees and upkeep of tertiary institution students, the other aspect is vocational skills. We just came from the Government Technical College (GTC) revamped world-class facilities there, we are also showing them our fashion hub.
“As you can see, Enugu is ready to absorb all the support from NELFUND. They will be able to provide us with zero-interest loans for training in fashion.”
“We have about 150 industrial sewing machines here, we have world-class monogramming machines. We can sit at any given point in time, 300 plus or closer to 500,” he said.
What you should know
NELFUND is expanding its educational loan programme to support vocational and skills training across Nigeria, beginning in Enugu.
The scheme, set to start within weeks, will cover training costs, offer stipends, and provide tools—aiming to equip youths with employable skills in areas like fashion design.
ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM VERILY NEWS
