The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) plans to introduce a token-based digital payment platform that will give students greater control over how tuition fees are paid under the Federal Government’s student loan programme.

The proposed digital overhaul is designed to replace NELFUND’s current system of paying tuition fees directly to tertiary institutions. Instead, beneficiaries would receive a secure digital payment token on their mobile phones, allowing them to authorise tuition payments themselves when they are ready to complete registration at their institution.

The initiative aims to improve transparency, strengthen payment traceability and eliminate reconciliation challenges that emerged during the first year of the student loan scheme, according to the fund.

The planned reform comes as NELFUND investigates 34 tertiary institutions over allegations that they failed to refund students whose tuition fees were paid twice under the programme following complaints from affected beneficiaries.