Nigeria Disburses N13 Billion Interest-Free Loans to 7,450 Tertiary Staff, Opens Next Phase in June
Updated
Updated · msmeafricaonline.com · Jun 18
Nigeria Disburses N13 Billion Interest-Free Loans to 7,450 Tertiary Staff, Opens Next Phase in June
3 articles · Updated · msmeafricaonline.com · Jun 18
Summary
More than N13 billion has been paid out under Nigeria’s 2025/2026 Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund to 7,450 academic and non-academic workers across 153 public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
The interest-free scheme, run by the Education Ministry and Bank of Industry, offers up to N10 million per worker to cover personal and professional needs, with officials framing it as a staff-welfare measure tied to education-sector reform.
Since disbursements began on October 28, 2025, the programme has processed over 42,000 applications; university staff took 52% of the loans, compared with 25% for colleges of education and 23% for polytechnics.
Women accounted for just 19% of beneficiaries, prompting plans for targeted outreach, stronger institutional engagement and upgrades to the digital application platform before the 2026/2027 window opens at end-June 2026.
The government says the fund should ease financial pressure on education workers while supporting productivity, household spending and small business activity as it pushes broader reforms to improve learning outcomes.