Nigerian students from Kano, Borno, and Benue states are the top three applicants of the student loan scheme, data from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund has revealed.
NELFUND, in a data chart posted via its official X handle, @nelfnigeria on Friday, highlighted the number of applicants per state of origin.
According to the data chart, students originally from Kano State topped the list of applicants with 17,122 applicants; Borno followed suit with 13,798 applicants while Benue had 11,754 applicants. The three states were the only states with over 11, 000 applicants.
The implementation of the student loan scheme is President Bola Tinubu’s flagship project in the education sector.
Tinubu signed the Access to Higher Education Act less than a month after taking office, which creates a legal framework for awarding loans to impoverished or low-income Nigerians to help them pay their tuition at Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The law, reenacted earlier this year, created the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.
NELFUND is responsible for all loan requests, grants, disbursement, and recovery.
The fund, according to the act, will be supported by multiple sources and will engage in other productive activities.
Other states and the number of applicants are as follows; Oyo, 8,990; Kaduna, 10,380; Katsina, 10,952; Osun, 8,093; Kogi, 8,400; Plateau, 9,328; Adamawa, 8,977; Kwara, 7,645; Taraba, 8,668; Yobe, 8,966; Ogun, 5,943; Akwa-Ibom, 6,525; Bauchi, 6,517; Kebbi, 6,333; Gombe, 6,121; Niger, 5,804;Jigawa, 5,535; Ondo, 3,854; Nasarawa, 4,789; Ekiti, 3,497; Imo, 2,802; Delta, 2,771; Ebonyi, 2,981; Cross-River, 2,476; Enugu, 2,247.
Others are Abia, 2,170; Lagos, 2,347; Anambra, 1,840; Zamfara, 2,986; Edo, 2,149; Rivers, 2,162; Sokoto, 2,055; Bayelsa, 1,267 and the Federal Capital Territory with 676 applicants.