NELFUND Pilots Tokenised Payment System to Tackle Double Fee Payments

​ The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has launched the pilot phase of a new tokenised payment system designed to eliminate double school fee payments and streamline the loan disbursement process for tertiary students across the country.
​The Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed the initiative on Wednesday during a press briefing, revealing that nearly 400,000 applications have already been received under the ongoing process.
​Under the new arrangement, students will no longer wait passively for direct institutional disbursements. Instead, they will use a mobile application to directly authorise the transfer of their approved loan funds to their respective institutions via school-linked tokens.
​Preventing Refund Complications
​Sawyerr explained that the reform addresses a recurring administrative challenge where communication delays left students unaware that NELFUND had already settled their fees. Facing impending registration deadlines, many beneficiaries paid independently out of pocket, resulting in duplicate transactions and complex refund procedures.
​“We discovered that there were some issues with students being informed in good time that their payments had been made by NELFUND, which meant that some of them would pay because they hadn’t realised that NELFUND had paid already,” Sawyerr said, emphasizing that these double payments were genuine errors by students striving to meet academic cutoffs.
​“We want to eliminate that need for refunds. So we’re placing the power of payment in the hands of the students,” he added.
​Strict Controls on Funds
​Addressing concerns over potential misuse, NELFUND officials clarified that the tokenised mechanism is not a cash disbursement to students, nor does it function as a personal or mobile money wallet.
​The system places strict technical boundaries on approved funds:
​School-Specific Tokens: Each token is locked strictly to the student’s designated tertiary institution.
​No Transfers Allowed: Beneficiaries cannot transfer funds to personal bank accounts or redirect them to another institution.
​Mandatory Student Authorisation: Institutional fees will only move when the student explicitly triggers the payment through the app.
​NELFUND’s Executive Director, Mustapha Iyal, confirmed that the pilot has officially commenced to test the workflow among the nearly 400,000 applicants.
​Upkeep Allowances Unaffected
​The agency noted that the tokenised system strictly applies to institutional charges (school fees). Upkeep allowances approved under the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2024, will continue to be transferred directly to students’ personal bank accounts as standard practice.
​While NELFUND has not yet announced a timeline for full nationwide implementation, the success of the system will depend on seamless coordination among NELFUND, students, and tertiary institution portals during peak registration periods.