Tinubu Meets NELFUND Leaders to Discuss Student Loans
On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu held a closed-door meeting at Aso Rock with Jim Ovia, founder of Zenith Bank, and Akintunde Sawyerr, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). The meeting's purpose was not disclosed.
Ovia and Sawyerr arrived at the Presidential Villa at approximately 5:15 p.m. Tinubu appointed Ovia as Chairman of the NELFUND Board on April 26, 2024, shortly after signing the Access to Higher Education Act into law, which established Nigeria's interest-free student loan scheme.
Sawyerr, appointed on April 5, 2024, has overseen the fund's implementation. As of July 4, 2026, NELFUND reported total loan disbursements exceeding ₦303.9 billion to 1,635,676 beneficiaries from 1,800,489 applications.
On July 9, an additional ₦1.5 billion was released to 6,129 students for the 2025/2026 academic session. Ovia praised the initiative as transformative and emphasized its importance in enabling access to higher education.
Plus234Feed summary based on reporting from Politics Nigeria. Read the original report below.
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