Students at the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi (JoSTUM), will return to campus on 7 April 2026 following the Easter break, with management having committed to resolving all outstanding issues around Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) payments before resumption.
The assurances came after a student protest prompted the Committee of Deans and Directors to convene an urgent review of the situation on behalf of the Senate. The review led to a directive sending students on Easter break from 23 March to 7 April, while management engaged in a series of meetings with key stakeholders to address grievances around NELFUND disbursements and the activation of a student e wallet platform for loan beneficiaries.
University Registrar Dr John U. David said the meetings involved principal officers, including the Dean of Students, Dean of Postgraduate School, Director of ICT, and Acting Chief Security Officer, alongside student representatives from the National Union of Benue State Students, the Tiv Students Community, the Students Union Executive, and the Students Parliament.
On the NELFUND question, management committed to producing a full account of funds received from NELFUND for the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 sessions, alongside a breakdown of disbursements made to beneficiaries, with the ICT and Bursary departments each required to report separately on what came in and what was refunded per session. A deadline of Thursday, 2 April 2026, was set for resolving all outstanding issues to enable students to complete registration before the first semester examinations commence.
Students whose e wallets have not yet been activated were advised to approach the ICT Directorate directly, and the Director of ICT was mandated to produce a video guide on how the e wallet system operates. Management also confirmed that only refunded funds would appear on student dashboards as loanable funds, clarifying that any excess would be treated as amounts for repayment rather than additional credit. Names of graduates were also to be removed from the beneficiary list to ensure that NELFUND allocations reach current undergraduates only.
Student leaders pledged to communicate the resolutions to the wider student body and to use established channels rather than social media for raising future grievances, following management's caution against online conduct that could damage the institution's reputation.
