The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has urged the Nigerian Education Loan Fund to ensure that federal government-approved funds for disbursement as student loans reach the intended beneficiaries directly.
The EFCC, in a statement on Wednesday, said its chairman, Ola Olukoyede, gave the charge earlier in the day at the corporate headquarters in Abuja during the signing of a memorandum of understanding by both agencies.
“Let it go directly to the human beings,” Mr Olukoyede said, advising NELFUND to explore mechanisms to ensure the direct disbursement to the beneficiaries, subject to appropriate verification by educational institutions.
“There are certain things you might not have addressed your mind to, because that is what we do. We could give all your attention to it. We don’t have to necessarily wait for money to be stolen before we go into action. Why can’t we provide more prevention? Even if it doesn’t occur at the level of the organisation, across or along the chain, something could happen,” Mr Olukoyede added.
According to the statement, both agencies, following the signing of the MoU, will now set up a joint team tagged ‘Fraud Assessment and Control Unit’ to ensure their activities are carried out in compliance with the set guidelines, ultimately to prevent the diversion of funds.
Urging NELFUND to access only funds legitimately due to it and ensure that such resources are applied promptly for their intended purpose, the anti-graft agency boss stressed that the partnership with NELFUND should also focus on prevention, rather than waiting until funds are stolen before taking action.
He said the welfare of young people informed the EFCC’s interest in supporting NELFUND, particularly because a substantial proportion of those investigated for cybercrime are young people and, in some cases, students.
“Whatever we recover from these proceeds of crime, why can’t we use it to also support them?” he suggested, explaining that the idea of applying recovered proceeds to support students was driven by the need to address some of the vulnerabilities that could expose young people to economic crimes.
Mr Olukoyede, however, expressed confidence that the MoU would strengthen risk assessment, improve accountability, and establish safeguards capable of protecting the programme beyond the tenure of the current leadership of both institutions.