The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) plans to replace its current system of paying tuition fees directly to tertiary institutions with a digital token-based payment system aimed at improving transparency and reducing cases of double payment.
NELFUND Managing Director Akintunde Sawyerr announced the proposal during an interview on ARISE News, explaining that the new system would allow students to initiate tuition payments themselves using a digital token while ensuring the funds remain dedicated to educational expenses.
Under the proposed model, NELFUND will stop transferring tuition fees directly to institutions. Instead, students will use the digital token to authorize payments to their schools.
“We’re looking at a tokenized system where the student has the funds effectively as a token on their telephone, and when they go to the bursary, they can effectively push a button that makes the payment…once we are able to successfully achieve that upgrade in the system, it will mean that we no longer pay the schools; the student pays the schools but through a token” – Sawyerr
The agency said it deliberately avoided paying tuition loans directly into students’ bank accounts to prevent funds from being diverted for non-educational purposes.
NELFUND introduced the student loan programme to improve access to tertiary education by removing financial barriers for eligible students. Since the scheme was launched during an academic session, some students paid their tuition before their loan applications were processed, resulting in instances where both students and NELFUND paid the same tuition fees.
The proposed digital token system is intended to address these challenges while giving students greater control over the payment process without compromising accountability.
NELFUND said the digital payment system will be introduced alongside loan disbursement cycles that align more closely with academic calendars. The agency expects the reforms to improve payment efficiency and strengthen accountability as the student loan programme continues to expand.
