The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced plans to extend its student loan scheme to cover vocational and skills acquisition programmes.

The managing director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abuja.

Mr Sawyerr said the extension was in alignment with the federal government’s broader education and skills development agenda.

He added that the move reflected President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to inclusive human capital development beyond traditional university education.

“No nation is built solely by philosophers.

“It is very important to have people who can use their hands, energy, strength, and skills to put into action the clever ideas that come from those emerging from academic institutions,” he said

Mr Sawyerr explained that, while NELFUND primarily focused on providing financial support to students in tertiary institutions since its launch, plans were underway to expand access to individuals enrolled in vocational and technical programmes across the country.

According to him, Nigeria’s next development phase requires a balance between academic and technical competence.

“At NELFUND, we have a mandate to also do vocational skills.

“We have not started yet, but I know that the President Bola Tinubu administration has ensured that there is full coverage around the skills issue.

” The Ministry of Youth Development is doing skills, the Ministry of Education is involved in skills and the Ministry of Digital Economy is involved in IT soft skills.

“So, skills is something that many departments of government have been charged with doing.

“And I think it is very clear that an engineer who can build is better than an engineer who can just design.

“The stage that we are in this country now is what I would call the design, build, and operate stage,” he said.

(NAN)