Senator Osita Izunaso, representing Imo West Senatorial District, has called for urgent reforms to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, urging state governments and corporate organisations to contribute financially to the scheme while pushing for an extension of the loan repayment period from two years to five years.

Izunaso, who serves on the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, made the call at a stakeholders' forum on NELFUND in Abuja, warning that without structural changes, the scheme risked collapse after the current administration.

"Everything that has to be done for its sustainability has to be done, so that it will not die whenever this government leaves office. NELFUND must be sustainable," he stated.

The senator argued that the current two year repayment window was unrealistic given Nigeria's unemployment situation, particularly for fresh graduates completing the National Youth Service Corps with no immediate job prospects, and called on the National Assembly to amend the NELFUND Act accordingly.

He also faulted the exclusion of accommodation costs from the scheme's coverage and described the ₦20,000 monthly stipend paid to beneficiaries as grossly insufficient.

"The monthly stipend of ₦20,000 is too little to sustain the students. That amount must be increased," he said.

Izunaso expressed concern that state governments, whose institutions benefit directly from the fund, were making no financial contributions, and called for governors to be brought into discussions on the scheme's future.

"It is sad enough that state governments are not contributing to NELFUND. Yet they are benefiting because NELFUND is taking care of students in both federal and state owned institutions," he noted.

He commended the fund's management for transparency and accountability, pointing to the ease with which disbursement records could be verified publicly. He urged the Senate committee overseeing tertiary education to invite the NELFUND Board of Trustees to present a long term sustainability plan and advocated inter agency collaboration to improve employment outcomes for the 1,600,000 students already benefiting from the scheme.