NELFUND to Finance Technical and Vocational Training as Nigeria Prioritises Skills

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) plans to widen its loan programme to include vocational and skills-training courses, the fund’s managing director, Akintunde Sawyerr, has announced in Abuja.

Mr Sawyerr said the change aligns with the federal government’s focus on practical skills and broadens access beyond conventional university funding. He noted that President Bola Tinubu’s administration supports a more inclusive approach to human capital development.

“No nation is built solely by philosophers.”

Since its launch, NELFUND has mainly provided loans to students in higher education. The new plan will extend financial help to learners enrolled in trade schools, technical institutes and other skills programmes across the country. Mr Sawyerr argued this is needed to balance academic learning with hands-on ability as Nigeria moves into a phase that demands both design and execution.

“At NELFUND, we have a mandate to also do vocational skills.

“We have not started yet, but I know that the President Bola Tinubu administration has ensured that there is full coverage around the skills issue.

” The Ministry of Youth Development is doing skills, the Ministry of Education is involved in skills and the Ministry of Digital Economy is involved in IT soft skills.

“So, skills is something that many departments of government have been charged with doing.

“And I think it is very clear that an engineer who can build is better than an engineer who can just design.

“The stage that we are in this country now is what I would call the design, build, and operate stage,” he said.

Mr Sawyerr stressed that inter-ministerial coordination will support the roll-out, with plans to work alongside agencies responsible for youth training, education and digital skills. Further details on eligibility, application procedures and timelines are expected as NELFUND moves from planning to implementation.