- Confirms No Discrepancies in Student Loan Disbursement
By Abiola Olawale
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has issued a clarification, retracting its earlier statement that alleged discrepancies in the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) student loan disbursement process.
Recall that earlier on Thursday, the ICPC released a press statement alleging significant financial irregularities in NELFUND’s student loan program, claiming that ₦71.2 billion of the ₦203.8 billion allocated remained unaccounted for.
The statement, which cited unauthorized deductions by 51 tertiary institutions ranging from ₦3,500 to ₦30,000 per student, triggered a media frenzy and public outcry.
The commission had announced a full-scale investigation, summoning officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Budget Office.
However, hours after the initial statement, the ICPC issued an urgent clarification, admitting an error in its earlier release.
The commission revealed that the word “NOT” was unintentionally omitted from a critical paragraph, creating the erroneous impression that discrepancies had been confirmed.
This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by Demola Bakare, ICPC spokesperson.
The ICPC spokesperson said: “The commission has only established the total amount of funds received and disbursed so far by NELFUND”.
Bakare said the next line of investigation to the receiving institutions and persons would be completed before any “reasonable deduction” can be made.
“Unintentionally, the word “NOT” was missing in the second to the last paragraph of our earlier press release in respect of an ongoing investigation regarding Student Loan Scheme,” the statement reads.
“The missing word created an erroneous impression that the alleged discrepancies or diversion has been established.
“We admit that this is not the case. Indeed, we accept that the same part of the sentence also contradicted the whole paragraph.
“The impression of diversion and the issue of discrepancies do not exist at this stage; the investigation would have to move into the receiving institutions and persons before any reasonable deductions could be made.”
