pannigeriannews 
By Sunday Adepoju
The management of the Nigeria’s best state university, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, has debunked the allegation that the institution fiddles with the Nigerian Education Loan Funds (NELFUND).
This reaction follows a recent front page story of The Guardian Newspaper which lists LAUTECH as one of the universities found to have made illegal deductions from the NELFUND, a Federal Government scheme under the Tinubu administration.
The report, described by the institution as obnoxious and fake, claimed that LAUTECH, along other 50 institutions, engaged in illegal deductions from the student loans.
LAUTECH Vice Chancellor, Professor Rasaq Olatunde ROM Kalilu, in a statement by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Lekan Fadeyi, urged the governments, stakeholders and the general public to disregard what he called obnoxious and fake report by the said daily newspaper.
He said, “Our attention has been drawn to the obnoxious front page of the Guardian Newspaper edition of Tuesday, April 29, 2025 in which it reported that 51 universities were found to have made illegal deductions from the Nigeria Education Loan Funds (NELFUND) facilitated by the Federal Government.
“We would not have bothered to respond to the malicious story that fell short of responsible journalism that the Guardian used to be known for, but for the fact that the publication erroneously listed the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, among the 51 universities it said misappropriated the funds.
“The truth of the matter is that LAUTECH has only received three tranches of funds from NELFUND since inception and we make bold to state that the releases have been promptly disbursed to the approved beneficiaries who are verified students of LAUTECH.”
According to Kalilu, details of the releases that were promptly administered as approved by NELFUND includes Eight Million, and Six Hundred and Seventy Thousand (N8,670,000) only that was released on September 5, 2024.
“Another tranche of Eighty-three Million and Nine Hundred and Sixteen Thousand Naira (N83,916, 000) only was released on November 1, 2024, while the third tranche of Three Hundred and Ninety-Seven Million, One Hundred and Fifty-two Thousand (397,152, 000) was released on March 5, 2025.
“Of all these releases, nothing is being held back by the University. In fact the university management has gone further to ask bankers in charge of the fund not to add any extra charges while crediting accounts of the students.
“It is therefore ridiculously unacceptable for Guardian Newspaper to go to press with such weighty accusation without bothering to seek any clarification with the University,” the statement added.
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