The Managing Director and President of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, has associated the delayed resumption of personnel recruited by the agency in 2025 to a directive released by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, suspending further employment execution.
His clarification follows concerns raised by successful applicants who, despite receiving work deals and finishing all onboarding requirements, have yet to be designated tasks more than a year after their recruitment.
The affected recruits, who received visit letters in January 2025 and settled the required paperwork by early February of the exact same year, have actually remained with no official update on when they are expected to start work.
Frustrated by the extended unpredictability, the applicants, under the banner of New NELFUND Worker Awaiting Resumption, petitioned a number of federal government authorities, including the Minister of Education and the Chairman of your house of Representatives Committee on Student Loans, Scholarships and Higher Education Financing, Ifeoluwa Ehindero, looking for intervention.
Ehindero had earlier showed that the committee would check out the matter.
Speaking on the development, Sawyerr stated the recruitment workout was carried out in line with NELFUND’s legal required to support both trainee funding and skills acquisition programs.
He discussed, nevertheless, that shortly after the recruitment procedure was concluded, the company got guidelines from its supervising ministry to suspend more action on the visits.
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According to him, the recruitment was carried out in great faith to reinforce the Fund’s capability in delivering its statutory responsibilities, however the regulation from the Minister of Education placed an embargo on work, avoiding the new staff from resuming.
Sawyerr kept that the firm could not act contrary to the minister’s instruction, worrying that it was bound to comply with the regulation.
He included that once the embargo is lifted, the firm plans to get in touch with the affected applicants and continue with the work process.
The continued hold-up has actually left a lot of the successful prospects in a challenging position, with some reportedly resigning from previous jobs or making monetary and personal dedications after getting their visit letters.
NELFUND was developed under the Trainee Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act to provide interest-free loans to eligible students in public tertiary institutions. Because starting operations in 2024, the agency has paid out billions of naira in tuition and maintenance loans as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to improve access to college.
The 2025 recruitment exercise was expected to expand the agency’s workforce in reaction to growing need for its trainee loan services and the application of its skills acquisition initiatives.
However, with the employment freeze still in place, the effective candidates stay in limbo, awaiting further direction from the Federal government on when they can formally use up their consultations.