By Ayodele Oni
The Minister for Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has declared that there was no fraud uncovered in the student loan scheme.
Alausa made this known on Wednesday, at the end of a meeting with Vice Chancellors, officials of the National Universities Commission, (NUC) Nigerian Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND) and the Federal Ministry of Education.
Alausa also described the statement credited to the Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission, (ICPC) and other related offences as incorrect.
“Let me start by saying that there is no fraud in NELFUND. ICPC reported that the information was not correct. There is no fraud in NELFUND; what we have are issues that have to do with the timeline.
Recently, ICPC announced that it commenced a comprehensive investigation into alleged discrepancies surrounding the disbursement of student loans under the Nigeria Education Loan Fund.
The commission said its preliminary findings revealed that while the Federal Government released N100 billion for the scheme, only N28.8 billion was disbursed to students, leaving N71.2b unaccounted for.
Worried by the development, the National Association of Nigerian Students, (NANS) vowed to protest the alleged discrepancy.
The National Orientation Agency, (NOA) had alleged that certain schools, conniving with some banks, delayed payments to students who qualified for loans so they could make money off the situation.
This followed a media report that alleged that some institutions made unauthorised deductions ranging from N3,500 to N30,000 from students’ fees received from the loan fund.
In a statement last Thursday by the ICPC spokesperson, Demola Bakare, the commission stated that its Special Task Force immediately commenced investigations upon receiving the allegations.
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