The University of Calabar has disbursed Nigerian Education Loan Fund refunds to 1,089 students across nine batches, while 2,090 additional applications await payment through its new automated portal.
UNICAL’s NELFUND Desk Officer, Dr Elizabeth Effiwatt, disclosed this to journalists on Friday in Calabar, adding that the institution was committed to ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of NELFUND disbursements.
“The University of Calabar has completed nine batches of manual refunds to 1,089 students. It is wrong for anyone to say UNICAL has not refunded. We are refunding, and the process is ongoing,” she said.
Effiwatt highlighted the major refunds made by the institution and debunked allegations linking UNICAL with institutions that have failed to refund students whose tuition fees were paid under the Federal Government’s student loan scheme, stressing that the university has disbursed refunds to beneficiaries.
“Let me also take us through the number of refunds the University of Calabar has made. We have done nine batches of refunds. Batch one was for 198 students. The second batch was for 104 students. We did the third batch for 106 students. Fourth refund for 105 students and then balance of one and two glitch for 168 students, batch five was for 26 students and batch six was 141 students, batch seven for 99 students, batch eight for 62 students, and then we did batch nine which was for 80 students,” she explained.
Effiwatt commended President Bola Tinubu and the Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, for the initiative in supporting tertiary institutions across the country.
New Automated Refund Portal
The Director of ICT at the institution, Dr Eyo Essien, explained that the NELFUND policy provides for refunds to students who paid school fees before disbursement was made, stressing that UNICAL had launched an ICT platform aimed at upgrading its payment system to allow students to apply for tuition payments and refunds electronically.
He said the surge in applications was due to UNICAL’s new digital refund system, which has replaced the old manual process, adding that 2,090 students had applied for refunds through the new automated portal in less than a month. He also pointed out that processing was temporarily paused to reconcile records.
“We have about 2,090 students who have applied for refund in less than a month. It is because of this automation. We have moved from the manual method of payment to digital. That is why it is easy for them to go through their portal on their own and apply without stress. Payment for the next phase was paused to reconcile records. Very soon, they will smile,” he said.
Essien explained that students no longer need to visit any office or pay anyone to process refunds, adding that the innovation makes UNICAL one of the first institutions in the country to deploy such a system.
“They don’t need to go anywhere. They don’t pay money to anybody. They just sit with their phone and do the application for a refund. In fact, they can see their balance on the dashboard. There are many schools. I don’t think there is any school or institution in Nigeria that has done what UNICAL has done. This innovation is seamless, no stress. The students can use it either to pay fees or to seek a refund,” he added.
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