The Nigerian Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund has commenced a sensitisation programme on the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) for students and stakeholders in the North-West geopolitical zone.
The programme, held at Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University, Katsina, is part of the committee’s oversight activities and efforts to raise awareness about the Nigerian Government’s student loan scheme.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Muntari Dandutse, said the delegation was in Katsina to conduct oversight visits to tertiary institutions and sensitise students and other stakeholders on how to access and benefit from NELFUND.
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Senator Dandutse said the committee would continue to collaborate with the seven states in the North-West to promote educational development and expand access to education financing opportunities for Nigerian students.
He said the initiative was also aimed at supporting the Nigerian Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda in the education sector by widening access to tertiary education and reducing financial barriers confronting students and their families.
Speaking at the event, Katsina State Governor, Malam Dikko Radda, said the state government had continued to sensitise students on available educational support programmes through the Special Assistant to the Governor on Student Matters, the Katsina State Scholarship Board and the Katsina Students’ Week programme.
Governor Radda described NELFUND as an important Government initiative capable of expanding access to higher education and reducing the financial burden on students and parents, particularly those from less privileged backgrounds.
He said his administration had doubled scholarship allowances and invested billions of naira in scholarship programmes over the past three years.
The governor added that the state had also sponsored foreign scholarships in fields including Medicine and Surgery, Artificial Intelligence and Biotechnology for indigenes of Katsina State.
