The N50 billion that the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) received from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is said to not have been a commission grant.
President Bola Tinubu announced the disbursement of the funds to NELFUND during his August 4 speech on the #EndBadGovernance demonstrations.
“This week, I ordered the release of an additional N50billion Naira each for NELFUND – the student loan, and Credit Corporation — from the proceeds of crime recovered by the EFCC,” Tinubu said.
On Wednesday, there were reports that the EFCC “donated” the sum to NELFUND.
In a statement on Thursday, Dele Oyewale, EFCC spokesperson, said the fund was not a donation but “part of the recovered proceeds of crime remitted to the government”.
The statement says, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu decided in his wisdom to plough the money into funding the critically acclaimed students loan scheme in furtherance of his social intervention policy for the most vulnerable segments of the population.”
“The Commission has no jurisdiction to decide where the government uses recovered criminal money.
However, the student loan program is a beneficial invention that can lessen young people’s engagement in crime.
“The EFCC will monitor the use of the funds to ensure accountability and the realization of the Scheme’s objectives,” stated Commission Chairman Ola Olukoyde during a courtesy visit to the Commission on August 13, 2026, from the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the NELFUND Akintunde Sawyerr.
