Committee to standardise university fee payments

The federal government has created a high-level committee to streamline and standardise fee payment processes across the country’s tertiary institutions.

This move aims to enhance financial operations between Nigerian universities and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, made the announcement in Abuja on Wednesday after a closed-door meeting with vice chancellors of universities, NELFUND management and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC).

Addressing the media, Mr Alausa said that while universities had been receiving funds promptly, there is a pressing need to improve the timelines and efficiency of disbursement and notification processes.

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He clarified that there was no fraud in NELFUND, noting that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had also corrected initial speculations arising from an error in its statement.

He said the work of the committee would address the concerns that some universities were making deductions before refunding students who had already paid their fees before NELFUND approved their student loan and disbursed it to their institutions.

He explained that the deductions made by the universities are service charges and would be resolved.

“The current processes are working, but we are working to better the system we have now.

“The aim is to serve both NELFUND and our citizens more efficiently, and align with the broader agenda of the current administration,” he said.

Terms of Reference

Mr Alausa said the committee has been tasked to standardise the nomenclature of charges by the universities.

He said the committee is also tasked with coming up with a clear timeline for NELFUND to disburse approved student loans to the beneficiaries’ institutions, timelines for when institutions are to notify the students of receiving their fees from NELFUND and the mode of communication to the students.

He added that the committee would devise a timeline for when the institutions are to refund students who had paid the fees out of their pockets before the approval and disbursements by NELFUND.

The minister said the existing process is working, but the committee would explore ways to improve it.

The committee is expected to submit its report to the education minister in three weeks.

“The committee has three weeks to submit its report to myself and the Minister of State, and in the next four weeks we’ll finalise new guidelines on how this entire process will work from NELFUND and from the universities. We’ll release that to the universities and we’ll release the finalised guidelines to the public,” the minister said.

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Members of the committee

He said the committee, chaired by the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Abdullahi Ribadu, also comprises officials of the Federal Ministry of Education (FME), NELFUND and some vice-chancellors of the universities.

Members of the committee include: the Chairperson of the committee of vice chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Lawrence Ezemonye, a professor, and two other vice-chancellors; the permanent secretary at FME, Director University Education, Director Polytechnic Education and Director Colleges of Education.

Others are: the Managing Director, NELFUND; the Director of Operations, NELFUND; and the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation at NELFUND.