The Turkish Zone says rising tuition, living costs and exchange-rate pressures are making government-backed education finance increasingly important for students overseas

As more Nigerians pursue higher education outside the country, the National Association of Nigerian Students, Turkish Zone, has urged the Senate to consider extending NELFUND loans to eligible students enrolled in accredited foreign institutions.

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The association made the appeal during an engagement with Senator Anthony Siyako Yaro, Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations, as it sought stronger government attention to the financial pressures confronting Nigerian students in the diaspora.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, NANS Turkish Zone President, Daniel Okpala, said the growing number of Nigerians studying overseas should prompt a corresponding review of federal education financing policies.

“The increasing number of Nigerians pursuing higher education abroad requires corresponding attention from government in its education financing policies,” Okpala said.

The association argued that students studying in countries such as Türkiye face significant financial pressures from tuition fees, accommodation, living expenses and fluctuations in the value of the naira.

It therefore called for a review of the existing NELFUND framework to allow qualified Nigerians at accredited foreign institutions to access government-backed education loans.

“Nigerian students should not lose government-backed educational support simply because they are pursuing their studies outside the country,” the association said.

NELFUND was established under the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2024, with the objective of reducing financial barriers to higher education through interest-free loans for eligible Nigerians.

The fund’s current programme is focused on students in participating Nigerian tertiary institutions, with its official platform describing the initiative as an interest-free student loan scheme.

NELFUND’s published impact data shows the scale of the scheme’s domestic expansion.

Its website currently reports more than 1.04 million students supported and over ₦184 billion in loans disbursed, with more than 300 institutional partners.

The existing framework therefore presents a significant policy question for lawmakers: whether a scheme designed primarily around Nigerian institutions can be adapted to cover eligible citizens pursuing accredited programmes overseas, while maintaining appropriate verification, repayment and accountability safeguards.

For NANS, the issue is increasingly urgent because the financial burden associated with overseas education can extend well beyond tuition.

Exchange-rate movements can substantially increase the naira cost of fees and living expenses, while international students may have limited access to affordable financing in their host countries.

The association described an expansion of NELFUND as a potentially significant step towards widening access to education and reducing those barriers.

Yaro, according to the statement, expressed willingness to examine the proposal and explore the appropriate legislative process for potentially broadening the scheme’s reach.

The senator also acknowledged the importance of ensuring that Nigerians in the diaspora are adequately represented in national policy and legislative discussions.

The engagement also moved beyond student loans, with the NANS delegation seeking stronger collaboration between Nigerian diplomatic missions and student communities abroad, particularly in countries with sizeable Nigerian populations.

Such engagement could provide a more structured channel for identifying welfare, documentation, education and emergency-support concerns affecting students overseas.

The proposal comes as NELFUND continues to expand its domestic footprint. Its official portal says the scheme provides interest-free loans and that repayment begins two years after the National Youth Service Corps period.

Any move to extend the programme internationally would nevertheless require careful consideration of how foreign institutions would be accredited, how tuition payments would be made, how beneficiaries would be verified and how loans would ultimately be recovered from graduates who may begin their careers outside Nigeria.

Those questions would be particularly important because overseas institutions operate under different regulatory systems and fee structures from Nigerian public tertiary institutions.

For Nigerian students abroad, however, the central argument from NANS is straightforward: nationality, rather than the location of an accredited institution, should remain an important consideration when determining access to public education financing.

Okpala said the association would continue engaging lawmakers and relevant government institutions on policies affecting the education and welfare of Nigerian students in the diaspora.

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The proposal now places the Senate before a potentially consequential policy discussion about how far Nigeria’s student-financing system should reach, and whether public education support should follow qualified Nigerian students beyond the country’s borders.