The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has issued a directive to all accredited tertiary institutions across the nation, urging them to immediately commence the update and upload of student records on the NELFUND Student Verification Portal. This action is a critical preparatory step for the forthcoming opening of the 2025/2026 academic session loan application window
The initiative is designed to ensure a seamless and efficient verification and loan application process for all prospective student borrowers. Institutions are required to guarantee that every student’s data is accurately captured and uploaded, utilizing unique and verifiable identifiers such as their admission numbers.
Therefore, NELFUND has explicitly stated that only students whose records have been verified and uploaded by their respective institutions will be eligible to apply for the interest-free education loan. The agency has therefore pressed institutions to finalize the data upload process without delay and to appoint designated officers to manage the exercise according to the provided technical guidelines. A stern warning was also issued, indicating that institutions failing to verify student records may be publicly listed for non-compliance.
The application portal, which had been temporarily closed to finalize pending applications and upkeep payments for the 2024/2025 session, is scheduled to reopen in the second week of October, remaining open until January 2026, to accommodate new applications for the 2025/2026 academic cycle.
