No discrepancies in student loan disbursement, ICPC explains statement on NELFUND

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has clarified its statement on student loan diversion, stating that there are no discrepancies in the disbursements by the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

Demola Bakare, the spokesman of ICPC, had issued a statement on Thursday, when he said the absence of “not” in the agency’s earlier statement created an impression of alleged discrepancies in the disbursement of the loans.

Bakare released a statement earlier on Thursday, titled: ‘ICPC Launches Comprehensive Investigation into Discrepancies in Student Loan Disbursement’.

Read also:ICPC says no discrepancies in NELFUND student loan disbursements

In the statement, he said the investigation was prompted by a recent media report claiming that 51 tertiary institutions were involved in illegal deductions and exploitation related to the NELFUND scheme.

“The ICPC confirmed that a clear case of discrepancies has been established in the administration of the student loan scheme and announced that its investigation will now extend to beneficiary institutions and individual student recipients,” the statement reads in part.

Nonetheless, Bakare, clarifying the earlier statement, said the absence of “not” in the second to the last paragraph contradicted the line of thought in the whole document.

He said that the commission has only established the total amount of funds received and disbursed so far by NELFUND.

The ICPC image maker disclosed that the next line of investigation to the receiving institutions and persons would be completed before any “reasonable deduction” can be made.

“Unintentionally, the word “not” was missing in the second to the last paragraph of our earlier press release in respect of an ongoing investigation regarding the student loan scheme,” the statement reads.

Bakare explained that the missing word created an erroneous impression that the alleged discrepancies or diversion has been established.

Read also: ICPC says N71.2bn out of ₦100bn student loans fund diverted

“We admit that this is not the case, indeed we accept that the same part of the sentence also contradicts the whole paragraph.

“The impression of diversion and the issue of discrepancies do not exist at this stage; the investigation would have to move into the receiving institutions and persons before any reasonable deductions could be made,” he explained.