NELFUND: Group Urges FG to Link Student Loan Records to NRS Income Data
E-ISSN: 2354-4481
By Rita Onuoha
The Federal Government has been urged to link the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) with income data held by the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) to strengthen the recovery of student loans.
The call was made on Monday by the iRead To Live Initiative, a policy advocacy group, which warned that billions of naira already disbursed under the student loan scheme could become difficult to recover if the government does not establish an effective system for tracking beneficiaries and their incomes.
According to the initiative, NELFUND has disbursed about ₦355.87 billion to approximately 850,000 students since May 2024, highlighting the scale of the financial commitment to the programme.
The group said the government must begin preparations for loan recovery before beneficiaries start exiting the repayment grace period.
Under the current arrangement, beneficiaries are expected to enjoy a two-year grace period after completing the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme before loan repayment begins.
The iRead To Live Initiative noted that the first major cohort of beneficiaries is expected to approach the end of the grace period in about 18 months, making it necessary for authorities to establish a comprehensive recovery framework ahead of time.
It expressed concern that relying primarily on deductions through employers could leave a significant number of borrowers outside the repayment system.
The group pointed out that many graduates may become self-employed, work in the informal sector, operate businesses or change employers after completing their studies.
It therefore recommended that NELFUND be integrated with income and taxpayer information maintained by the NRS.
According to the initiative, such integration would enable the government to identify borrowers, monitor their income status and establish appropriate repayment mechanisms, including for graduates who are not captured through conventional payroll systems.
The group described the existing recovery framework as “untested and structurally at risk,” given the scale of the funds involved and the number of beneficiaries expected to enter the repayment phase.
It warned that failure to strengthen the system could undermine the sustainability of the student loan programme and potentially recreate challenges associated with previous government-backed student loan schemes.
The initiative said an effective recovery system should not be limited to formal-sector employees, arguing that the growing number of self-employed and informal-sector workers requires a broader mechanism for identifying borrowers and assessing their repayment obligations.
It also called for improved coordination among government agencies responsible for education financing, taxation, employment and national identification to ensure that accurate records are maintained throughout the lifetime of each loan.
The advocacy group stressed that the objective should not merely be to recover loans but to create a transparent and predictable system that allows beneficiaries to repay according to their financial capacity.
It urged the Federal Government to implement the necessary reforms before the first beneficiaries enter the repayment stage, rather than waiting until significant defaults occur.
The call comes as the government continues to expand access to tertiary education financing through NELFUND, with thousands of students benefiting from the scheme since its launch.
The initiative maintained that strengthening the loan recovery architecture now would protect public funds, improve accountability and ensure that the student loan scheme remains available to future generations of Nigerian students.
