How NELFUND MD Akintunde Sawyerr Allegedly Engaged in  Illegal Recruitment

Revealed: How NELFUND MD Akintunde Sawyerr allegedly engaged in illegal Recruitment

The recent claim by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Akintunde Sawyerr, that the Ministry of Education deliberately stalled the absorption of new recruits hired in January 2025 has come under scrutiny.

In a recent interview with The PUNCH, Sawyerr alleged that the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, placed an “embargo” on the exercise. “The Minister of Education, who is our supervising minister, asked us to put an embargo on employment after the recruitment exercise. This is the simple situation,” Sawyerr said.

However, investigations revealed that the claim was inaccurate, as the recruitment is said to have been conducted illegally. A senior director in the ministry, who spoke anonymously because she was not authorized to comment publicly, explained: “It is a straightforward issue. Government policy on recruitment and the general conduct of an agency cannot be handled based on the whims of an agency’s MD. There are established protocols and reporting lines. We read the report in which he (Sawyerr) indicted the minister, but that is not the proper explanation.”

It is alleged that Sawyerr acted independently of NELFUND’s Board of Trustees (BoT), chaired by retired banker Jim Ovia. Based on this, Ovia reportedly instructed management at a meeting in Lagos not to enrol the new hires on the agency’s payroll

Under the Access to Education Act 2023, the BoT has “operational control” over the agency, and its directives can only be altered by the President. Sawyerr also reportedly shunned other executive directors of the agency, who kicked against the recruitment. Our investigation further showed that the exercise was conducted at a hotel in Abuja rather than at NELFUND’s secretariat.

A member of the House of Representatives Committee on Students Loans, Scholarships, and Tertiary Education Financing, chaired by Hon. Ifeoluwa Ehindero, confirmed the crisis.

Speaking anonymously, he admitted to having a candidate among the new recruits. He said he withdrew his candidate when the crisis appeared irresolvable, and  revealed that the committee at one point summoned NELFUND’s Management, who provided cogent reasons for why the recruitment should not have been carried out.

Some members of the House Committee are said to have become aware of Sawyerr’s alleged high-handedness and leadership style, which reportedly tends toward running the agency as a sole administrator. Currently, NELFUND already has over 200 staff, a figure considered excessive for an agency whose operations are largely digital.

In response to the dispute, the education minister Alausa intervened, aligning with the BoT chairman’s decision to halt the recruitment.

At a recent NELFUND event attended by members of relevant National Assembly committees, Prof. Idris Bugaje, Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and a member of NELFUND’s BoT, highlighted disunity within the agency’s leadership as a “fundamental issue” requiring urgent resolution. Bugaje stated: “I am asking the Senate Committee chair to first ensure that it is one team at NELFUND. Let there be unity in the management. Let there be one direction. If we want to move this agency forward, unity of the top management is very important. All of them were appointed by His Excellency, Mr President. Therefore, all of them should work as one team to deliver the mandate given to them.” He also stated that the agency’s BoT was not effective, due to the docility of its chairman, Ovia.