NELFUND Floats Vocational Skills Devt Loans Scheme

Vocational skills development in the country, would receive additional impetus, if plans by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) goes through.

The fund has announced it would begin expanding its loan scheme to cover vocational and skills acquisition centres across Nigeria.

The vocational skills loans scheme would begin with Enugu State, within the next six to eight weeks, which is late June and mid-July, NELFUND says.

Managing Director of NELFUND, Mr. Akintunde Sawyerr, made this disclosure during a strategic engagement and sensitisation campaign in Enugu State, stating that the fund’s intent, was to support technical education in skills centres nationwide.

Such support he said, would cover skill development in key areas, adding that Enugu State had been selected for the pilot phase.

“We are working on it now, and we’re going to have some discussions with the executive governor and his team, because we want to start it here.

READ ALSO:  “The president has also instructed that we focus on areas where the governments or the institutions of state and instruments are ready to work with us, so that we can have a quick takeoff.

“I think that within the next six to eight weeks, you will see us kick something off,” he said.

NELFUND’s Executive Director of Operations, Mr. Iyal Mustapha, hailed Enugu as having one of the best skills development facilities, in the country, the reason why it had been chosen for the pilot phase of the programme.

“Enugu is going to be one of the first states or one of the first locations we are looking at to start. With what I see, there is a lot of positivity.

READ ALSO: “We have seen different skill centers from the technical colleges to the vocational skill centers, like the fashion design, and they are all very positive for us at NELFUND.

“I would not say that Enugu will be the only state, but one of the first states to start with,” he said.

On procedure for for the Vocational Skills development scheme, Mustapha said it would be an online process once the portal opens.

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“We are going to have these centers in place to say if you apply from Enugu this is where to go in Enugu.

“We are going to pay for their training costs, we are going to be giving them upkeep and at the end of the day, they will have some working tools when they finish their training.”

“We are still trying to complete that into our guidelines. The training costs is based on what the centre is proposing, that’s what we are paying, but the institutional charges is going to be part of the loan because it’s to support them with the transport coming to these skill centres.

“It’s a work in progress, and the country is always evolving. The government is seeing the value in skills and vocation just to support the community”, he stated.