The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has directed the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to ensure that student loan funds approved by the Federal Government are paid directly to eligible beneficiaries, warning against diversion and other financial crimes.
Olukoyede gave the directive on Wednesday in Abuja during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the EFCC and NELFUND at the Commission’s headquarters.
The agreement is designed to strengthen transparency, prevent financial infractions and improve accountability in the management and disbursement of funds, including recovered proceeds of crime earmarked for educational support.
Describing NELFUND as one of the flagship legacy projects of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, Olukoyede praised the agency for expanding access to education financing for Nigerian students.
He explained that the EFCC’s responsibility goes beyond recovering stolen public funds, saying the Commission must also ensure that recovered assets are used to improve the lives of Nigerians.
As part of the partnership, both organisations will establish a Fraud Assessment and Control Unit to monitor compliance with guidelines, assess risks and strengthen internal controls.
Olukoyede stressed that preventing fraud should be the priority rather than waiting until public funds are stolen.
“There are certain things you might not have addressed your mind to, because that is what we do. We could give all your attention to it. We don’t have to necessarily wait for money to be stolen before we go into action. Why can’t we provide more prevention? Even if it doesn’t occur at the level of the organisation, across or along the chain, something could happen,” he said.
The EFCC chairman said the Commission was particularly interested in protecting young Nigerians, noting that many cybercrime suspects investigated by the agency are youths, including students.
“Whatever we recover from these proceeds of crime, why can’t we use it to also support them?” he asked.
He urged NELFUND to continue improving its disbursement system by ensuring funds reach verified beneficiaries directly, while educational institutions authenticate students’ identities.
“Let it go directly to the human beings,” Olukoyede said, adding that the EFCC wanted to ensure recovered funds reached those they were meant to benefit.
He also advised the agency to access only funds legally allocated to it and ensure such resources are promptly deployed for educational purposes.
According to him, the partnership will improve risk assessment, strengthen accountability and create safeguards that will protect the programme beyond the tenure of the current leadership of both institutions.
Earlier, NELFUND Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Akintunde Sawyer, commended the EFCC for supporting the agency through preventive anti-corruption measures instead of relying only on investigations after fraud has occurred.
Sawyer disclosed that NELFUND has processed 1.6 million student loan applications, with 960,000 loans already approved. He added that the agency recently upgraded its digital systems and launched a new application portal.
He explained that applications, approvals and disbursements are handled electronically through formal banking channels without cash transactions.
According to him, student verification is carried out using the National Identification Number (NIN), Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) registration details, matriculation numbers and Bank Verification Numbers (BVN).
“I promised that all the operations of this office would be fully transparent; where every penny, every kobo that leaves the organisation has an electronic footprint. Not just for today, but for those who may come tomorrow to say, what did they do while they were there? We’ve been taken to task many times on various allegations, suspicions, uncertainty. Say, look, all the records are there. It’s all electronic. If there’s anything wrong, you’ll find it,” Sawyer said.
He noted that the loan scheme was deliberately designed to eliminate middlemen and unnecessary human interference.
“We wanted to make sure that there are no gateways, no middlemen in between, down to the point where we don’t need anybody to approve you as top civil servant or top judge. We don’t want anybody in the middle of this process, and we made sure that anyone who applies for this loan does not need to know anybody at NELFUND. Of course, they interact with us if they have difficulties, but they don’t need to know us at all. The bulk of the money goes to the institutions,” he said.
Sawyer also said NELFUND is building a system that will remain transparent and effective beyond the tenure of its current management through multiple layers of oversight and accountability.
He further thanked the EFCC for recovering proceeds of crime that support the student loan programme, saying the new agreement would ensure such funds are protected from diversion and delivered to their intended beneficiaries.
NELFUND was established by the Federal Government to provide interest-free education loans to qualified Nigerian students in tertiary institutions. The initiative is a key component of the Tinubu administration’s education reform agenda aimed at expanding access to higher education. The partnership with the EFCC is expected to reinforce transparency, reduce fraud risks and strengthen public confidence in the student loan scheme.
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