Claim: Nigeria is the only country in Africa running an interest-free student loan scheme.

Verdict: Misleading

Full Text:

An X user, @Masterbolaji, on 8th March, 2025, made a claim that Nigeria is the only country in Africa running an interest-free student loan scheme.

The verified user whose profile shows that he is a political economy analyst attributes the success to the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration as a pacesetter.

“Technically, Nigeria is the only country in Africa running an interest-free student loan scheme. NELFUND has become a model for other African countries, and two nations are already working on implementing similar systems. BAT has always been a pacesetter.”

In 2024, a year after he assumed office, he launched the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) by stressing the importance of education as a vital tool in combating poverty as well as achieving national development.

With the latest figure released on the 6th of March, 2026, NELFUND has disbursed over 200 billion naira in loans to students.

This milestone cannot be overemphasised as an achievement of the present government. It is certain that false and overhyped comments will be flying around. This is found with the above tweet, which has aroused reaction from other users, while some here, here,  and here, some believe it is true here, here and here.

Hence, looking at the national value of that claim as it affects the educational sector of the country, NDRFactcheck subjected the comment to a check for better information.

Screenshot the comments made by the X user.

Verification

We conducted an investigation, and we found out that across Africa, student loan schemes exist in countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Eswatini. These countries created student loan boards or financing agencies to provide financial support to students in universities and other tertiary institutions.

Furthermore, South Africa has operated a student loan system where the loan can be interest-free while the student is still studying, and interest starts later.

The loan is interest-free for the study duration, but interest begins after the student leaves university.

This means South Africa has used a partly interest-free student loan system, even though it may not remain interest-free after graduation.

Conclusion

Nigeria is not the only African country to operate an interest-free student loan model. Evidence shows that South Africa has implemented loans that are interest-free during the study period.

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