ICPC confirms discrepancies in students’ loan administration

By Monday Ijeh

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) said it has confirmed discrepancies in the administration of the student loan scheme.

The Director, Public Enlightenment and Education of the ICPC, Mr Demola Bakare said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

He said that with the confirmation of discrepancies in the administration of the loan, the commission had concluded plans to extend its investigation to beneficiary institutions and individual student recipients.

Bakare said the commission had earlier investigated the alleged discrepancies surrounding the disbursement of student loans under the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

According to him, the investigation followed a media report alleging that no fewer than 51 tertiary institutions were implicated in illegal deductions and exploitation in the NELFUND scheme.

He said the institutions were alleged to have made unauthorised deductions ranging from N3,500 to N30,000 from each student’s institutional fees received through the loan fund.

The ICPC spokesman said preliminary findings had revealed a significant gap in the financial records of the disbursement process of the fund.

He said while the Federal Government reportedly released N100 billion for the scheme, only N28.8 billion was disbursed to students, leaving an unaccounted sum of N71.2 billion.

Bakare said the commission’s Chairman’s Special Task Force immediately swung into action upon receiving the report by sending letters of investigation and invitations to key stakeholders.

He said those communicated were the Director General of the Budget Office, the Accountant General of the Federation, and senior officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The ICPC spokesman said the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Directors of NELFUND were also invited to provide documentation and explanations relevant to the case.

According to him, the responses received were critically analysed, and interviews were conducted with the concerned individuals.

He said the investigation revealed that the total money received by NELFUND as at March 19, 2024, was N203.8 billion.

“The breakdown showed that N10 billion was an allocation from the Federation Allocation Account Committee, N50 billion was from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and N71.9 billion was from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.

“Another N71.9 billion was also from the same Tertiary Education Trust Fund.

“The ICPC, however, found that the total amount disbursed to institutions from inception to date is about N44,200,933,649.00, while a total of 299 institutions have benefited from the funds released.

“Till date, the total amount disbursed to 299 beneficiary institutions stands at approximately N44.2 billion, with 293,178 students having benefited from the fund,” he said. (NAN)