The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has started piloting a NELFUND school fees token that lets loan beneficiaries authorise payment of their approved fees straight to their institution from their phones. The fund’s Managing Director and Chief Executive, Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed the pilot at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, saying it is meant to end cases of students paying fees that NELFUND has already covered and the refund disputes that follow.
Sawyerr also said the fund plans a portal for parents, where a matriculation number will show whether a student’s fees have been paid or are still outstanding. The fund gave no date for either change to cover every beneficiary, and with about 400,000 applications already in its system, according to figures shared at the briefing, the rollout will touch a large share of students in public tertiary institutions once it moves past the pilot stage.
| Announced | 28 October 2026, Abuja |
|---|---|
| Status | Pilot, no date for full rollout |
| What it covers | Approved institutional fees |
| Where the money can go | Only the account of the student's own institution |
| Upkeep allowance | Still paid into the student's bank account |
| Parents' portal | Planned, checks fee status with a matriculation number |
You approve the payment, but the money never touches your account
Under the pilot, a student’s approved fee is attached to a digital token that is tied to one school. The student authorises the payment through an app on their phone, and the money moves to the institution’s account, not to the student’s own bank account. Sawyerr explained that a token for an approved ₦200,000 payment, for example, can only be sent to that institution and can’t be redirected to a personal account or to a different school.
We want to eliminate that need for refunds. So we're placing the power of payment in the hands of the students.
He was clear that the token shouldn’t be mistaken for cash or a savings product, describing it as “not a personal wallet, it’s not a mobile money wallet at all”. Executive Director Mustapha Iyal added that the wallet arrangement is still at the pilot stage, so most beneficiaries will keep seeing fees paid the way they are today until NELFUND announces a wider launch.
Why paying your fees yourself after applying can cost you
The problem the fund is trying to fix starts when a student, worried about a school deadline, pays fees from family money before finding out that NELFUND has already paid the institution. That leaves the student chasing a refund from the school, which is exactly the complication the fund says the token is designed to remove. A token the student has to approve closes that gap, because the fee payment can’t happen without the student knowing about it.
Until the token reaches your school, log in to the NELFUND student portal and check your application and disbursement status before paying anything from your own pocket. If the fund has already paid and you’ve also paid, raise it with your school’s bursary in writing and keep your receipts.
Parents will be able to see what the loan has covered
The planned parents’ portal is aimed at a different problem. Sawyerr said some beneficiaries have kept collecting fee money from their parents “without disclosing their funding status”, and the portal would let a parent enter their child’s matriculation number and see whether fees have been paid or are still outstanding. NELFUND hasn’t said when the portal will go live or whether it will need any other details beyond the matriculation number.
The token only deals with institutional charges. Students approved for upkeep will still receive that allowance in their bank accounts, so nothing changes for the monthly payment many beneficiaries rely on for feeding and transport. Taking the loan also remains your choice, as the fund made clear when it responded to an Enugu college memo on compulsory applications, and the fund’s spending on upkeep has been growing, as shown in its ₦372.62bn disbursement update.
For a beneficiary today, the useful change in habit comes before the token arrives. Check your NELFUND status first, only pay from family money once you’re sure the fund hasn’t covered that session, and expect your parents to be able to confirm the same thing for themselves once the portal opens.
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