The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has introduced a tokenised payment system that will allow students to authorise the payment of their school fees and help prevent cases where beneficiaries pay the same fees twice.

The fund’s managing director, Akintunde Sawyerr, announced the arrangement at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, October 28, explaining that the new process is designed to address delays in notifying students when their fees have already been paid through the federal government’s student loan scheme.

Under the system, beneficiaries will receive notifications through a mobile application when their approved school fees are ready for payment. Students can then authorise the transactions from their phones, directing the funds to their respective institutions.

The arrangement changes the existing process in which NELFUND transfers approved tuition payments directly to institutions on behalf of beneficiaries.

Sawyerr said some students had unknowingly paid their fees a second time because they were not informed promptly that NELFUND had already settled the bills. The situation created additional administrative work as institutions had to deal with refund requests.

He said the new system would give students greater control over initiating payments while reducing the likelihood of duplicate transactions.

“We want to eliminate that need for refunds. So we’re placing the power of payment in the hands of the students,” Sawyerr said.

New arrangement will not allow students to withdraw the approved tuition funds into their personal bank accounts or redirect the money to another institution.

According to Sawyerr, the token system is designed to ensure that the funds are used only for the school fees for which they were approved.

“We’re not giving the students money, but we’re giving them power,” he said.

NELFUND also signalled plans to address cases in which students allegedly benefit from the loan scheme while their parents continue paying their school fees without knowing that funding has already been approved or provided.

Sawyerr described the practice as unacceptable, saying the fund intended to strengthen transparency and prevent beneficiaries from receiving duplicate payments for the same expenses.

The tokenised payment system is intended to address the distinction between money approved for tuition and funds that students can use personally. While institutional charges are restricted to payments to schools, eligible beneficiaries may also receive upkeep allowances under the loan scheme, subject to approval.

Established in 2024 following the signing of the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act by President Bola Tinubu, NELFUND administers the federal government’s interest-free student loan programme for eligible tertiary institution students.

On October 3, the fund announced that it had disbursed more than ₦372 billion to 1,635,676 beneficiaries across 312 tertiary institutions nationwide.