NELFUND tests phone token system to stop double payment of school fees

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund has begun piloting a tokenised payment system to stop students from paying school fees twice and to end refund complications. Managing director Akintunde Sawyerr announced the pilot at a press briefing on Wednesday.

The new arrangement lets students initiate payments to their institutions through tokens linked to their schools via a phone application. Sawyerr said delays in notifying students about fund payments caused some beneficiaries to pay twice to meet school deadlines, creating the need for refunds. Executive director Mustapha Iyal confirmed the pilot is underway and said nearly 400,000 applications have been received under the current process.

Students will receive notifications when their approved fees are ready for payment and can authorise the transaction on their phones. Sawyerr stressed the system is not a cash disbursement scheme; the tokens confine funds to the specific institution for which the payment was approved, preventing transfers to personal bank accounts or other schools. Iyal added that the token is attached to a particular institution and is neither a personal nor a mobile-money wallet.

NELFUND administers the Federal Government student loan scheme created under the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2024, providing eligible Nigerian students with interest-free loans for institutional charges and approved upkeep expenses. The tokenised system concerns institutional charges only, not upkeep allowances paid directly into student bank accounts. Officials did not give a date for full implementation.