Tinubu Directs Fresh ₦50bn EFCC Recovered Funds to NELFUND, Consumer Credit Scheme

Tinubu Directs Fresh ₦50bn EFCC Recovered Funds to NELFUND, Consumer Credit Scheme

By Olufemi Odeyemi

President Bola Tinubu has approved the disbursement of ₦50 billion from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's Proceeds of Crime Account to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and the Consumer Credit Corporation (CreditCorp), continuing a pattern of channeling recovered stolen assets into social investment programmes.

EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede disclosed the approval on August 4, 2026, during a courtesy visit by CreditCorp's management team, led by Managing Director Uzoma Nwagba, to the Commission's headquarters in Jabi, Abuja. He said the disbursement recognised the successes both agencies had recorded in executing their mandates, and described CreditCorp as one of the defining legacies of the Tinubu administration, arguing that an effective consumer credit system reduces the temptation for financial crime.

The latest allocation builds on an earlier ₦50 billion tranche handed to NELFUND in August 2024, also sourced from EFCC recoveries, which the Commission's 2024 statistical report described as part of its largest single-year asset recovery since its founding in 2003. Tinubu has repeatedly framed the practice as central to his anti-corruption strategy, telling a judicial workshop in October 2025 that recovered proceeds of crime were being "ploughed back into the economy" through the Students' Loan and Consumer Credit schemes, easing the pressure that pushes vulnerable Nigerians, particularly youths, toward corrupt or cybercrime-related practices.

NELFUND, established under the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act 2024, has since disbursed over ₦282 billion to more than 1.5 million students across over 300 tertiary institutions, according to the fund's most recent figures. The scheme has also faced scrutiny, including an EFCC-assisted probe into unpaid student refunds at dozens of institutions and earlier ICPC findings on diverted disbursements, even as the government continues to expand its funding base through recovered assets.