The President on Friday appointed Akintunde Sawyerr as the Managing Director of NELFund, Mr. Frederick Akinfala as Executive Director, Finance and Administration and Mr. Mustapha Iyal as Executive Director, Operations.
President Bola Tinubu has appointed a new managing director and two executive directors into the National Education Loans Fund (NELFund) management team.
The President on Friday appointed Akintunde Sawyerr as the Managing Director of NELFund, Mr. Frederick Akinfala as Executive Director, Finance and Administration and Mr. Mustapha Iyal as Executive Director, Operations.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, made this known in a statement titled "President Tinubu appoints management team of the Nigerian Education Loans fund" on Friday.
Ngelale said that the appointments were “In line with his determination to secure Nigeria’s socio-economic future by ensuring sustainable higher education and critical skill development for all Nigerian students and the youth.”
This comes two days after President Tinubu signed the Student Loans known as Access to Higher Education Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2024 into law.
Tinubu signed the executive bill titled “A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2023 and Enact the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Bill, 2004 to Establish the Nigerian Education Loan Fund as a body corporate to receive, manage and invest funds to provide loans to Nigerians for higher education, vocational training and skills acquisition and for related matters” on Wednesday.
The President signed the Students Loans bill in the presence of the leadership of the National Assembly, Ministers and Major Stakeholders of Education.
The signing of the bill was sequel to the considerations by both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the report of the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, as the 2023 Act had some challenges bordering on governance and management, purpose of the loans, eligibility criteria for applicants, method of application, repayment provisions and loan recovery.
But the new version allows for the appointment of a Chairperson of the fund, a Managing Director and two Executive Directors of Finance and Operations each to “assist the Managing Director in performing his duties.”
The Act stated that the appointees “shall hold office for five years.”
The Act further made the Loan Fund a body corporate with the ability to enter contracts, including loan agreements with applicants, or to initiate enforcement actions to recover loans from beneficiaries; provisions it lacked hitherto.
President Tinubu said that with the appointment of the management team, he expects that the necessary apparatuses are “expeditiously put in place for the effective take-off of this pivotal Fund for the immediate and lasting benefit of Nigerian students and families in all parts of the country.”