UYO — The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) says it has disbursed more than N322 billion to students since it began operations, benefiting over 1.6 million students in 319 institutions. The figures were presented in Uyo during the fund's South-South sensitisation programme, organised with the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions. The Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyer, was represented by the Director of Human Resources, Dr Zino Ugboma. In Akwa Ibom State, 24,283 students applied for the loans and N2.1 billion has been released to students in the state, including N1.2 billion to students of the University of Uyo. Governor Umo Eno, represented by the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ubong Umoh, said the state had released N1.3 billion in bursaries and raised the bursary for each student from N20,000 to N50,000. Umoh also listed 31 model primary schools and three model secondary schools built by the state, and said the number of programmes in its tertiary institutions had risen from 43 to 84. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Uyo, Prof. Christopher Ekong, welcomed the programme and urged students to take advantage of the loan scheme.