A young Nigerian, Oladayo Hassan Baruwa, has shared a personal testimony of how the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) reportedly changed the perception of a senior staff member of the University of Ibadan (UI) and his family towards President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Baruwa, in a personal account, recalled that during the 2022 presidential campaign, he approached the university staff member to seek his support for Tinubu ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
According to him, the staff member was then opposed to voting for Tinubu.
However, after the man’s son gained admission into the University of Ibadan in 2023, Baruwa said he contacted him in 2024 to introduce the family to NELFUND, the Federal Government’s student-loan initiative.
He said the son, who was then a 200-level student, applied for the NELFUND loan, was approved and has since benefited from the scheme.
Baruwa said the experience became particularly significant several weeks ago when the senior staff member’s son and some other students decided to register for their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) at the university.
He said he personally took the student and four others to a registration centre and waited until they completed the process.
According to Baruwa, it was on their way back from the registration exercise that the student shared with him his father’s changing perception of the Tinubu administration.
He said the student told him that his father had expressed appreciation for what he described as the benefits of the administration, particularly the NELFUND scheme, which his son and other students had benefited from, as well as the stability of the academic calendar.
Baruwa further claimed that the student told him his father and some of his colleagues were now prepared to support President Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
“I was happy hearing this, because I have been wanting to convince the senior staff to vote for President Tinubu in 2027,” Baruwa said.
He added that he subsequently ensured that the four students he accompanied were registered at his polling unit within the University of Ibadan community.
Baruwa described the experience as an example of how government policies could influence public perception when citizens directly experience their impact.
“Thank you President Tinubu for giving us what we can point as reference of your administration inside University of Ibadan community,” he said.
He concluded his testimony with a prediction about the 2027 election, declaring: “January 16th would be loud.”
