N50bn to NELFUND not donation – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says the N50 billion allocated to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) was not a donation by the commission, but part of the recovered proceeds of crime remitted to the government.

The agency, in a statement by its spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, said President Bola Tinubu decided to allocate the funds to the student loan scheme as part of his social intervention policy for vulnerable populations.

Noting that it is not its responsibility to determine how the government utilises the recovered proceeds of crime, the anti-graft agency, however, disclosed that it would monitor the use of the funds to ensure accountability and the realisation of the scheme’s objectives.

The statement reads: “EFCC’s N50 billion to NELFUND Not a Donation. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) wishes to clarify the reports in a section of the media today, August 14, 2024, purporting that the Commission donated N50 billion to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) from its recovery account. The said fund was not a donation by the Commission but part of the recovered proceeds of crime remitted to the government.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in furtherance of his social intervention policy for the most vulnerable segments of the population, decided in his wisdom to allocate the money to fund the critically acclaimed student loan scheme. It is not the place of the Commission to determine where the government commits recovered proceeds of crime.

“But the student loan scheme is a salutary innovation which has the potential to reduce youth involvement in criminality. As the Commission’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed during a courtesy visit to the Commission by

“NELFUND’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, on August 13, 2026, the EFCC will monitor the use of the funds to ensure accountability and the realisation of the objectives of the scheme.”