The Federal Ministry of Education has dismissed reports alleging that the Minister of Education was responsible for the delay in the resumption of newly recruited employees of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), describing the claims as false and misleading.
Credible sources within the ministry told our correspondent that there was no approved recruitment exercise for NELFUND, insisting that the agency is already overstaffed and currently lacks adequate office space and defined responsibilities for many existing personnel.
“We can authoritatively state that there is no approval for any recruitment exercise in the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as the agency is overstaffed, with many personnel without office spaces and schedule of duty,” a senior ministry source said.
The source further rejected reports suggesting that the Minister directed a halt to the resumption of newly recruited staff, maintaining that the decision predated the minister’s involvement.
According to the source, before the Minister became involved in the matter, NELFUND’s Executive Management Team had met with the Board Chairman, Mr. Jim Ovia, in Lagos, where the chairman reportedly halted the ongoing recruitment process.
“At the meeting, the Chairman declared the recruitment unnecessary at the moment because there had been no approval from the board, nor had management formally reviewed or discussed any recruitment plans,” the source stated.
The source alleged that when the three Executive Directors requested evidence of proper authorization for the recruitment from the Managing Director, their request was ignored.
It was further alleged that despite objections from three senior management officials, the Managing Director proceeded with the recruitment exercise independently, including documentation of prospective employees outside established official procedures.
According to the ministry source, the Board Chairman subsequently directed that individuals recruited through the disputed process should not be placed on the organisation’s payroll pending a review.
“The Chairman clearly instructed that those already recruited through this process should not be added to the organisation’s payroll. He also ordered a comprehensive review of staff ranks to ensure transparency and compliance with organisational protocols,” the source added.
The ministry source further alleged that after management’s latest meeting with the Minister, the Managing Director held a private meeting with close aides during which he reportedly vowed to proceed with the recruitment exercise despite earlier directives.
The source urged independent verification of the claims by contacting both the Board Secretary and the Executive Director of Operations, who were said to have participated in the Lagos meeting where the recruitment freeze and staff rank review were discussed.
Raising concerns over the agency’s staffing situation, the source claimed that approximately 80 per cent of NELFUND’s workforce is currently redundant.
“The current status of NELFUND is alarming. Approximately 80 per cent of the workforce is redundant. This issue was unanimously acknowledged during our recent management meeting, where all four key leaders agreed that urgent action is required to address the redundancy crisis. At this stage, we simply cannot afford to increase staffing,” the source said.
The source also commended the Minister’s intervention in the affairs of the agency, saying it had helped prevent what was described as an impending organisational crisis.
“It is worth noting that the intervention of the Honourable Minister has been instrumental in averting organisational collapse,” the source added.
Efforts to obtain comments from NELFUND’s Managing Director were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report. Similarly, the Board Secretary and the Executive Director of Operations had not responded to enquiries before press time.
