ICPC Moves to Probe 51 Institutions over Alleged N159.6bn Unaccounted Student Loan

ICPC Moves to Probe 51 Institutions over Alleged N159.6bn Unaccounted Student Loan

JOEL OLADELE, Abuja

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has moved to probe at least 51 tertiary institutions across Nigeria following the reports indicating yet to be accounted sum of N159.6 billion out of the  N203.8 billion student loans were implicateds under the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND)

In a statement signed Thursday by the Spokesperson for the Commission, Demola Bakare, he noted that the  51 tertiary institutions  in illegal deductions and exploitation related 6to the NELFUND scheme.

According to Bakare, these institutions were alleged to have made unauthorized deductions ranging from N3,500 to N30,000 from each student’s institutional fees received through the loan fund.

“Preliminary findings revealed a significant gap in the financial records of the disbursement process. 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 confirmed that its Chairman’s Special Task Force immediately swung into action upon receiving the report.

Letters of investigation and invitations were dispatched to key stakeholders, including the Director General of the Budget Office, the Accountant General of the Federation, and senior officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

ICPC added that the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of NELFUND were invited to provide documentation and explanations relevant to the case. The responses received were critically analyzed, and interviews were conducted with the concerned individuals.

According to the ICPC, its investigation revealed that the total money received by NELFUND as of 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, N71.9B was from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, while another N71.9 billion was also from the same Tertiary Education Trust Fund,” the statement read.

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.

“To date, the total amount disbursed to 299 beneficiary institutions stands at approximately N44.2 billion, with 293,178 students having benefited from the fund.

The ICPC confirmed that a clear case of discrepancies has been established in the administration of the student loan scheme and announced that its investigation will now extend to beneficiary institutions and individual student recipients.

“Further updates will be provided as the investigation progresses,” Bakare said.