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The Nigerian government introduced the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) in 2023 to expand access to tertiary education and reduce financial pressure on students and their sponsors. The fund was established under the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act 2023, later revised in 2024 to clarify eligibility and repayment terms, and formally created NELFUND as the agency responsible for managing and disbursing student loans to qualified Nigerians in public higher institutions. The fund covers two major components: institutional charges and student upkeep. Institutional charges are paid directly to the school, while upkeep support is paid into the student’s personal bank account. So far, the scheme has disbursed ₦184 billion ($136.18 million) to 1.5 million students across 265 institutions. As the 2025/2026 academic cycle reaches its peak, more than 2 million Nigerian higher education students are seeking clarity on payment timelines and repayment terms. This guide breaks down the latest updates from NELFUND to help applicants navigate the portal and secure their academic loans. What to know about the NELFUND disbursement for 2026 Disbursement of student loans for the 2025/2026 academic session is currently ongoing. Applications opened in October 2025 and were initially scheduled to close in January 2026. However, this deadline was moved to February 27, 2026, to give students more time to complete their application. Approved loans are being released in batches; the fund scheme disclosed in February 2026 that it disbursed almost ₦400 million ($295,000) in student loans to Delta State University, Abraka. NELFUND typically aims to disburse funds within 30 days of receiving an approved application. However, the timeline for payment depends on how quickly institutions confirm student enrollment and upload fee details. Once verification is complete and approval is granted, institutional fees are paid directly to schools, while upkeep allowances are transferred to students. If an application still shows as pending, it may mean that verification or internal processing is still in progress. Are you qualified to apply for NELFUND? The scheme is currently available to Nigerian students who are studying or desire to study in federal higher institutions, including public universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, or vocational schools in Nigeria. Students can apply for the loan in each academic cycle, and repayment begins two years after completion of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Loan amounts are not fixed because tuition varies across schools. The amount covered under institutional charges depends on the official fee structure submitted and verified by each institution. Students may also apply for upkeep support of up to ₦20,000 ($14.79) monthly to assist with living expenses during the academic session. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events Next wave Entering Tech Subscribe The NELFUND application process To apply, students must register on the official NELFUND portal and create an account before completing their profile. To create an account: Open the NELFUND application portal Confirm your citizenship Verify your student status by inputting your institution and matriculation number Verify your JAMB status by providing your JAMB registration number and date of birth If your National Identification Number (NIN) is not linked to your JAMB profile, you will need to provide it for verification A code will be sent to the email address provided to verify the account, and then your account will be created Complete your profile by providing your contact details, including a valid phone number, a residential address, your State of residence, and your State of Origin. Then you would provide your account details, and your account will be created. To apply for the loan: On the portal’s dashboard, select ‘Loan’ If you wish to apply for the upkeep loan of ₦20,000 ($14.79) monthly, select it You then upload your admission letter (mandatory) and your student ID card Then you will be directed to a page where you will see the total loan amount, and then submit your application Applications for NELFUND’s 2025/2026 disbursement cycle are open until the end of the month, as the scheme continues to expand its reach to ensure no student is left behind. While applying, it is important for accurate documentation and information to be submitted to ensure funds are disbursed in time.
Read MoreIf your Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) application is still showing pending, you are not alone. Since the rollout of the student loan scheme in 2024, many applicants across federal and state institutions have reported delays between application, approval, and actual disbursement. Here’s what is happening and what students should do if payment has yet to arrive: Why is your NELFUND loan still pending? A pending status does not automatically mean your application has been rejected. In most cases, it indicates your loan is still within the verification or processing stage. There are three common reasons this occurs. 1. Incomplete institutional verification Before funds are released, your institution must verify your student status and confirm your tuition details with NELFUND. If your school has not completed this step, your application cannot move forward. This is often the biggest bottleneck in the process. Even if you submitted your application early, payment will not be processed until your institution confirms your details. 2. Approval does not mean instant payment Some students see an “approved” status on their dashboard and expect immediate disbursement. However, approval is only one stage of the process. After approval, payments still go through reconciliation between NELFUND, institutions, and financial partners. This creates a gap between approval and when the funds reflect either in your school’s account for tuition or in your personal account for upkeep. 3. Incorrect or incomplete bank details For students receiving upkeep allowances, incorrect bank information can cause delays. If your banking details do not match the records submitted during your application, disbursement may be paused until corrections are made. What students should do if they haven’t received payment 1. Check your dashboard carefully Log in to the official portal and confirm your current status. Whether it reads pending, verified, or approved, avoid submitting a second application for the same academic session. Duplicate entries can complicate your record and slow down processing. 2. Review your information Confirm that your matriculation number, Institution name, course of study and Bank details match exactly what your institution has on file. Even minor inconsistencies can trigger delays. 3. Contact your school directly Reach out to your institution’s bursary, registry, or ICT unit to confirm whether your details have been verified and uploaded correctly to NELFUND. If verification has not been completed on the institution’s end, no payment can proceed. 4. Use official support channels If your loan shows an approved status for an extended period without disbursement, file a complaint through the official NELFUND support channel. Include your application ID and relevant details. Avoid middlemen or unofficial agents. The process is handled directly between the applicant, the institution, and NELFUND. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events Next wave Entering Tech Subscribe What if you already paid your tuition? Some students paid their school fees out of pocket while waiting for disbursement. In such cases, institutions are expected to reconcile payments once NELFUND releases the funds. Keep your payment receipts and confirm with your bursary department whether your name is listed among the beneficiaries. Ask about the refund or adjustment process in your school. Documentation will be important in this situation. The bottom line A pending NELFUND status usually signals a processing gap, not a failed application. In most cases, the delay sits at the institutional verification stage or within post-approval reconciliation. Students who take the following three deliberate steps tend to resolve issues faster: Confirm their application details are accurate. Follow up directly with their institution’s bursary or ICT unit. Escalate through official NELFUND support if approval has stalled without payment. The system is still evolving, and administrative bottlenecks are part of that reality. What matters is knowing where the delay is likely coming from and responding strategically rather than reactively. Clarity, documentation, and consistent follow-up usually make the difference between waiting indefinitely and getting answers.
Read MoreIn 2025, Selar, an e-commerce startup that helps creators sell products, paid out over ₦18 billion ($12.8 million) to its African users. While the numbers might look good in isolation, the added context that this came within a decade of the startup’s launch and is almost double 2024’s ₦9 billion ($6.6 million) in payouts shows how far the bootstrapped startup has come. Like many African startups, reaching these milestones was far from straightforward. Douglas Kendyson, the company’s founder and CEO, told TechCabal that when he launched the business, he had no fixed blueprint for what it would become. Instead, constant user feedback shaped the startup’s direction and evolution. “When I started Selar in 2016, I did not have a grand thesis about the market. I didn’t sit down and write out, “Creators will do X, and customers will do Y, and therefore we’ll win,” he said. “The best thing about those early days was that I was not boxed in by what I thought the market “should” be. I was just building something I wanted to exist and then improving it based on what people told me,” he added. The first 100 days: “Wait, users, don’t just show up?” Selar’s first customer did not come from Nigeria. They came from France. The very first user Kendyson set up was his friend after he released an extended playlist (EP) of songs, and after a little convincing from Kennedy, he listed it on Selar. “Guy, come. Put it on Selar. Let people support you,” Kendyson told his friend. At the time, the logic was that people would have listened to his music anyway, but with Selar, they could back him financially. “That was the first ‘sale’ strategy I understood. People don’t just want to consume; they want to support,” Kendyson said. But after successfully bringing in his friend, reality hit fast. “Where are the rest of the people? Who is going to bring them?” he thought to himself within the first 100 days of Selar. At the start, all Selar employees were engineers. While they were good at shipping products, nobody was responsible for distribution. Nobody owned growth. According to Kennedy, one of the first brutal lessons in the first 100 days was that sales and marketing are not vibes. “People do not just come because you built something,” he said. He tried everything he could. He turned other friends into customers. He built a community. But by the third year, the problem was still there despite Kendyson’s efforts at building and doing outreach, hoping people would find Selar. “I cared about users, but my default setting was to keep refining, keep improving, and keep shipping. Then surely everything will click. That’s a very engineer-like way to think,” Kendyson said. Cheap hires and expensive lessons Selar’s first hires were cheap, but they taught Kendyson an expensive lesson. In early 2020, he hired two social media employees to post content for Selar and paid them ₦20,000 ($52) each. He thought that with two junior people, things would improve, and they would figure it out. Then in January 2021, he hired his first engineer, a junior developer, largely to keep costs down. He assumed that because he could write code himself, managing and supervising the hire would be straightforward. He quickly learned otherwise. Before the year ran out, Kendyson had learnt the real price of hiring juniors too early. “When you hire too junior across key roles, you pay with your time,” he said. He spent too much time iterating, reviewing, rewriting, and giving feedback. “It becomes a loop. You save money, but you lose weeks. And your time is not free, especially as a founder.” He knew he had to find a balance. Even though it was difficult, he increased his budget and fired the junior employees. “The alternative was me drowning in oversight,” Kendyson said. The rebirth of Selar started in Dubai Kennedy attributed one of the biggest shifts for Selar to a job that had nothing to do with the startup. In 2018, he moved to Dubai and worked as a growth and software engineer at Sarwa, a fintech company, where he worked closely with the marketing team. Watching how marketing actually works when people take it seriously and how positioning, distribution, partnerships, and repetition compound changed how he built his startup. By 2020, he left the company to apply what he learnt from his time in Dubai. He describes that period as the rebirth of Selar because it was when things began to feel real: “We were finally learning how to move beyond ‘we built something’ to ‘people are actually using it,” he said. One of the main ways Selar tried to solve the customer problem was through social media and cold outreach. At first, Kendyson was messaging people he knew personally. Expectedly, he could not find scale using this method and realised that if he wanted strangers to find him, he needed a distribution method that scaled. “We leaned into cold DMs, more consistent social content, and eventually accepted that ads might be necessary,” he said. The early milestones The milestones Kendyson cared about most in the beginning were revenue milestones. Only cold, hard cash could impress him, and the same still runs true today. The first big milestone was ₦100 million ($74,000) in sales in 2020. While he was happy, he was also in disbelief. Then the next obsession became ₦1 billion ($740,000). Even as Selar hit these milestones, Kennedy could not calm down. “They gave me the most anxiety I’ve ever felt because digital products can be inconsistent,” he said. A creator could have an impressive launch this month, but their sales plummet by next month. This unpredictability seeped into Selar’s business model and affected the startup’s revenue strength. “So even as we grew, I kept thinking. Can I repeat this? Is this sustainable? Are there enough creators? Are there enough launches?” From 2020 to 2024, he carried ‘insane’ anxiety. The more successful Selar got, the
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