JoSTUM students’ protest: Mgt resolves disagreements over NELFUND disbursement

…students to resume April 7

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The management of the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, JOSTUM, has resolved the issues that prompted the March 23, 2026 protest by about 200 students who took over the entrance of the institution following disagreements on the disbursements of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND.

The Registrar of the institution, Dr. John David in a statement issued Tuesday in Makurdi recalled that the action of the student prompted the urgent review of the situation by the Committee of Deans and Directors on behalf of Senate later that same day, with a decision that all students should proceed on Easter Break from March 23 to April 7, 2026 and to vacate the hostel before 6pm.

He pointed out that the protest prompted urgent reviews by the Committee of Deans and Directors on behalf of the Senate, which held a series of meetings with stakeholders, including student leaders from the National Union of Benue State Students (NUBESS), Community of Tiv Students, Students’ Union Executive Committee, and Students’ Parliament, to address concerns over the NELFUND payments and the creation of an e-wallet platform for beneficiaries.

According to the Registrar, the meetings took place between Monday and Friday, 27th March, involving University management teams, including Principal Officers, Dean of Students, Dean of Postgraduate School, Director of ICT, and Acting Chief Security Officer.

“We carefully reviewed students’ concerns and taken decisive steps to ensure transparency in NELFUND disbursement and proper functioning of the e-wallet system,” Dr. David said.

According to the Registrar “after the Friday March 27, 2026 meeting between SU Leaders, NUBESS and NANS with the University Management, it has become necessary to issue this release with the following resolutions:

“The Management is to confirm total funds received from NELFUND for 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 and total funds disbursed to the beneficiaries for the two sessions, that is, ICT to report what came in and for which session while Bursary to report what was refunded and for what session(s).

“Time frame to sort out all related issues is by Thursday (April 2, 2026) to enable all students to complete their registration before returning and commencement of examinations for first semester 2025/2026 session.

“Benefiting student(s) whose e-wallet is/are yet to be activated on their portal should personally approach ICT for guide or redress. Director of ICT was mandated to do a video to guide students on the operations of the e wallet.

“ICT to sieve out names of graduates from the list of beneficiaries so as not to short change JoSTUM undergraduates in benefiting from the scheme.

“The Management gave assurance that only refunded funds to students will reflect on their dashboards/portal as foanable funds as against any excess for repayment by the beneficiaries.

“Meeting clarified the issue of excess fund and agreed that it must be based on NELFUND Policy of school refunding/returning excess funds to NELFUND to enable further funding of the scheme.

“Students’ leaders were urged to convey today’s meeting resolutions to their constituents or the general students through their platforms so as to resume for their examinations as scheduled.

“As regards reckless use of facebook and online publications to de market the University, the students’ leaders henceforth promised to refrain from the use of social media platforms and unauthorized utterances to address their issues.

“On the returning of all students for continuation of the first semester of 2025/2026 session on April 7, 2026 from the Easter Break, the students’ leaders reasoned with the Management to ensure full resumption on that date with a strong assurance to maintain peace and security on campus.”

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