The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has urged the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND to ensure that the funds that have been approved by the Federal Government for disbursement as loan to students get directly to the intended beneficiaries, while strengthening measures to prevent diversion and other financial crimes.
Olukoyede gave the charge in Abuja on Wednesday, 23 September, 2026 at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU between the EFCC and NELFUND at the corporate headquarters of the Commission . The MoU is aimed at strengthening collaboration, preventing financial infractions and ensuring accountability in the management and disbursement of proceeds of crime allocated for educational support.
He described NELFUND as one of the major legacy projects of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration and commended the management of NELFUND for the progress recorded in providing students with access to education financing. The EFCC Chairman said the Commission’s mandate extends beyond the recovery of proceeds of crime to ensuring that recovered funds are put to productive use for the benefit of Nigerians.
With the MoU, both EFCC and NELFUND will now set up a joint team tagged ‘Fraud Assessment and Control Unit’ to ensure that things are done in compliance with the set guidelines.
Olukoyede stressed that the partnership with NELFUND should also focus on prevention, rather than waiting until funds are stolen before taking action. He said the EFCC would work with NELFUND to examine its processes, identify vulnerabilities and strengthen internal controls to ensure that funds meant for students reach them as intended.
“There are certain things you might not have addressed your mind to, because that is what we do. We could give all your attention to it. We don’t have to necessarily wait for money to be stolen before we go into action. Why can’t we provide more prevention? Even if it doesn’t occur at the level of the organisation, across or along the chain, something could happen,” the Chairman stated.
According to him, the welfare of young people informed the EFCC’s interest in supporting NELFUND, particularly because a substantial proportion of those investigated for cybercrime are young people and, in some cases, students. “Whatever we recover from these proceeds of crime, why can’t we use it to also support them?” he asked, explaining that the idea of applying recovered proceeds to support students was driven by the need to address some of the vulnerabilities that could expose young people to economic crimes.
The EFCC Chairman further advised NELFUND to explore mechanisms for direct disbursement to beneficiaries, subject to appropriate verification by educational institutions. He noted that universities and other institutions could play a critical role in authenticating students’ identities and ensuring that only genuine beneficiaries access the funds. “Let it go directly to the human beings,” Olukoyede said, stressing that the Commission was particularly interested in ensuring that the benefits of recovered funds reached the people for whom they were intended.
He therefore urged NELFUND to access only funds legitimately due to it and ensure that such resources were applied promptly for their purpose.
The EFCC Chairman expressed confidence that the MoU would strengthen risk assessment, improve accountability and establish safeguards capable of protecting the programme beyond the tenure of the current leadership of both institutions.
Earlier, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyer, commended the EFCC for its support and its emphasis on preventing economic crimes before they occur. He said the EFCC’s preventive approach had helped NELFUND establish stronger standards of transparency and accountability in the management of its resources.
Credit: EFCC
