Category Nigeria News

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has said it will commence expansion of its loan scheme to cover vocational and skills acquisition centres across Nigeria, starting with Enugu State.

According to a statement released on Friday during a strategic engagement and sensitisation campaign in Enugu State, attended by key officials from NELFUND and the Enugu State Government, the scheme will begin within the next six to eight weeks.

Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, emphasised the Fund’s intent to support technical education in skills centres nationwide, including fashion design and other vocations. He said Enugu has been selected as a starting point for the programme’s rollout.

“The Managing Director/Chief Executive of NELFUND, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, alongside the Executive Director of Operations, Mr. Mustapha Iyal, led a NELFUND delegation to Enugu State for a strategic engagement session with key stakeholders.

“The visit, held in collaboration with the Enugu State Ministry of Education, included interactive sessions with representatives of tertiary institutions and traditional rulers, aimed at deepening awareness and strengthening partnerships for the successful implementation of NELFUND’s initiatives.

“We are working on it now, and we’re going to have some discussions with the executive governor and his team, because we want to start it here.

“The president has also instructed that we focus on areas where the governments or the institutions of state and instruments are ready to work with us, so that we can have a quick takeoff. I think that within the next six to eight weeks, you will see us kick something off,” he said.

During a tour of the Enugu Garments and Fashion Hub, NELFUND’s Executive Director of Operations, Iyal Mustapha, highlighted Enugu’s preparedness and existing infrastructure, stating that the state had one of the best vocational and skills training facilities seen so far.

“Presently, we have other states, almost more than 10 states that we have seen such, but then, Enugu is one of the best.

“Enugu is going to be one of the first states or one of the first locations we are looking at to start. With what I see, there is a lot of positivity.

“We have seen different skill centres from the technical colleges to the vocational skill centres, like the fashion design, and they are all very positive for us at NELFUND. I would not say that Enugu will be the only state, but one of the first states to start with,” he said.

Explaining how the loan scheme will be implemented, Mustapha said beneficiaries will be able to apply through an online portal once it opens.

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The scheme would cater to training costs, offer upkeep stipends, and provide tools upon training completion.

“We are going to have these centres in place to say if you apply from Enugu, this is where to go in Enugu. We are going to pay for their training costs, we are going to be giving them upkeep, and at the end of the day, they will have some working tools when they finish their training.”

“We are still trying to complete that into our guidelines. The training costs are based on what the centre is proposing, that’s what we are paying, but the institutional charges are going to be part of the loan because it’s to support them with the transport coming to these skill centres.

“It’s a work in progress, and the country is always evolving. The government is seeing the value in skills and vocation just to support the community.”

Special Adviser to the Governor on Digital Economy and MSMEs and Director General of the Enugu SME Centre, Arinze Chilo-Offiah, said the state government is committed to youth empowerment through skills development.

“We just wanted to show them the world-class facilities we have here to let NELFUND know that we are ready to key into the skills acquisition component of the fund.

“One component is to take care of school fees and upkeep of tertiary institution students, the other aspect is vocational skills. We just came from the Government Technical College (GTC) revamped world-class facilities there, we are also showing them our fashion hub.

“As you can see, Enugu is ready to absorb all the support from NELFUND. They will be able to provide us with zero-interest loans for training in fashion.”

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the establishment of a Candidate Counselling Emergency Support Centre.

In a statement posted on its X handle on Friday, the examination body said the move was to provide additional support to candidates with urgent concerns.

The new centre would complement its existing ticketing platform, which remains the preferred and most efficient means of communication with the Board.

JAMB, however, pointed out that its ticketing platform was still the most reliable option for candidates seeking assistance.

“In addition to our usual and preferred ticketing platform for Candidate Support, JAMB has now opened a Candidate Counselling Emergency Support Centre (CCESC).

“Members of the public, particularly Candidates with genuine concern, can reach out to any of these officials: a. Gbenga b. Yusuf C. Dubem d. Tony e. Ogbonna and f. Emma on 07002200016,” it stated.

The development comes as the Kuliya Ngeri of Ilorin, Prof. Yusuf Ali, yesterday, defended the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, following his recent admission to a system glitch.

The glitch had affected over 300,000 students who sat for the 2025 JAMB examination.

In a statement yesterday, titled ‘Prof Is-Haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, The Uncommon Person’, Ali noted that Oloyede’s decision to own up to the mistake and show empathy to the affected candidates was a rare occurrence in Nigeria’s public service.

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The statement read: “Let me confess that Prof. Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede the Registrar and Chief executive of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has been a personal Friend of about 50 years, I need to make this disclosure, so that no one will accuse me of writing this testimonial, without the disclosure of our affinity.

“Prof. Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede is one of the very few individuals for whom I can swear with the Holy Quran about their honesty, integrity, transparency, incorruptibility, Human empathy and selflessness.

“It was unfortunate that a technical glitch engendered by 3rd parties negatively affected the conduct of the 2025 JAMB examination in some places in the South East and Lagos. This unfortunate incident has led to the decision to conduct a new examination for about 300,000 candidates out of the over 1.5 million candidates who wrote the examination.

“Many of the commentators seem to forget the clime in which Oloyede operates, that he decided not to take the path of most public servants in our country by treating the complaints about the examination with impunity, has led a few of the commentators to ask for his head.

“I dare say that the path he had chosen on this unfortunate matter of admitting that there were mistakes, owning up and showing genuine empathy to the victims of this unfortunate event, is a rare occurrence in our part of the world.

“Oloyede has shown that those who operate in our national space are also fallible like all humans and that perfection belongs only to Almighty Allah.

“He has shown candour, honesty, transparency, humanness, and leadership by accepting full responsibility for the acts of others because he happens to be the head of the organisation.

“We who know Oloyede closely can attest to the sleepless nights he usually has, at least three months before any of these examinations, moving physically, sometimes at very unreasonable hours of the day, to visit the various offices of JAMB all over Nigeria in preparation for these examinations.

“No serious leader will abandon his people at the time of a crisis, which is what his resignation at this point will translate to. This unfortunate incident happened under his watch, and it makes a lot of sense that he should not abandon ship but be manly enough to see the end of the problem. Good leadership is not about taking flight when negative issues arise.

Ghanaian immigration officials said they had detained more than 2,000 undocumented foreign nationals in Accra on Friday in an operation to dismantle criminal networks and curb street begging.

Of the 2,241 arrested during the early morning raids, 1,332 were children, immigration services said in a statement.

Interior Minister Muntaka Mubarak said in a Facebook post that the operation was “to address the growing concern of organised street begging involving foreign nationals.

“This activity poses a national security risk and damages the image of our country,” he added.

Many of those arrested had entered Ghana via “unapproved routes, bypassing essential immigration”, he said.

Many of those caught in the raid were from neighbouring junta-led Sahelian country of Burkina Faso, as well as from Togo. Some of the others were from as far away as Nigeria.

They will undergo security and medical screening before repatriation to their home countries, with the authorities promising to treat them with “the highest professionalism, with respect for their human rights”.

Some local people welcomed the action.

John Gyamfi, a 43-year-old Ghanaian spare parts dealer, said the arrests were “long overdue”.

“Some of these foreigners engage in prostitution and street begging,” he said.

“It’s embarrassing: they come here and people think they are Ghanaians and they embarrass the good name of Ghana. If they go, the streets will be neat again,” he added.

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But some undocumented migrants say desperation, not crime, was behind their arrival in Ghana.

“Finding food has become a problem for us,” Chamsiya Alhassan, a mother from Niger told AFP as she queued for a bus.

“Our husbands and relatives have been killed. We are here only to find something to eat,” she added.