By isa Abdul, Abuja

President Bola Tinubu has taken hold steps to make the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, financially heft by directing that recovered funds from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, be diverted to it to meet its growing funding obligations.

Dr Tunji Alausa, Minister of Education, disclosed this Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting.

The Federal Executive Council also approved a presidential directive that all unclaimed dividends from the Capital Market Trust Fund and the Dormant Account Trust Fund be channelled to NELFUND, he added. The move is to make the fund financially buoyant enough to meet its expanding obligations to Nigerian students. He announced that:

“The president, in his benevolence, has now directed that all funds recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission be diverted to NELFUND to continue to support its funding.

“This was also approved by FEC: that all unclaimed dividends from the Capital Market Trust Fund and the Dormant Account Trust Fund should also be directed to NELFUND, so that NELFUND will be financially buoyant to meet its growing obligations today.

“Note, and the President was very clear, not ceased properties, or recovered looted funds, but liquid funds, from the EFCC will now be transferred to NELFund.“

The minister said the directive was consistent with a campaign promise President Tinubu made to ensure access to education for Nigerian students.

He noted that the funds will include unencumbered monies which are not under legal contention.

–SUBEB Teachers Protest Contempt of Court Judgment, Accuse Grace Adagba of ‘Dribbling’ Them_

By Felix Umande

It was a rainy morning, placards and pain in Makurdi on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, as a group known as “Aggrieved Primary School Teachers under SUBEB” staged a protest in the Benue State capital to demand implementation of a 2024 court judgment on the Federal Government’s harmonized retirement age for teachers.

The protesters, most of them elderly men and women, some with their children in tow, marched to government offices to express what they described as “years of injustice, unlawful retirement and salary denial” by the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB.

Addressing journalists during the protest, Chairman of the group, Comrade Kpandegh Dennis, said the teachers were fighting for their right to remain in service for 5 additional years as approved by the Federal Government with effect from January 1, 2021.
Comrade Dennis recalled that while some states had implemented the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act 2022, Benue under former Governor Samuel Ortom allegedly implemented it “the other way round” by secretly paying selected teachers while retiring others.
“We instituted a legal action. And by the grace of God, we won the case on the 30th of April, 2024,” he said.

According to the judgment delivered by Hon. Justice E. D. E. Isele, the court declared that the claimants “are still in the employment of the Defendants and due for retirement upon attainment of the chronological age of 65 years or 40 years of pensionable service.”

The court also ordered SUBEB “to restore the names of the Claimants on the payroll… and to compute and pay to the Claimants their respective salaries and allowances due from the date of their purported retirement.”

The teachers accused the immediate past acting SUBEB Chairman, Mzaga Iorhemba, of forcing them into “unlawful retirement” and diverting their salaries. “You will receive alert, the money will not hit your account. So we had pay slips, no salary for such people,” Dennis alleged.

Following a petition to Governor Hyacinth Alia on October 17, 2023, the governor removed Mzaga and directed the current SUBEB Chairman, Dr. Grace Adagba, to resolve the matter.

Dennis said Dr. Adagba conducted screenings on March 14, 2024 and again on February 27-28, 2025, but “after the screening, none of us were reinstated. She dumped us and carried other persons.”

He further alleged that after the teachers’ counsel filed a motion for contempt of court, the then Attorney-General, Fidelis Mnyim, intervened and pleaded for an out-of-court settlement within 30 days. “As soon as the matter came down low, the woman started firing us again,” he said.

The group also referenced a resolution from the Tor Tiv which they said SUBEB has ignored.
With rain-soaked clothes and children by their side, the protesters appealed directly to Governor Alia and the Federal Government:

“Our appeal to government is that because Grace doesn’t want us to continue with our job — though the court has given us our right, our 5 years is intact — let them pay our 5 years to us to go and settle with our family.

“As you can see us, because of the rain, we are caught up. If not, we planned that we will come out with our children. See this small one is not up to 18 years. We have nothing to chop. We have served this state!”

In its April 30, 2024 judgment, the court granted the following reliefs:

1. Declaration; that the claimants have not attained retirement age and remain staff of SUBEB until 65 years or 40 years of service.
2. Order; directing SUBEB to restore the claimants to the payroll and pay all outstanding salaries and allowances from the date of purported retirement.
3. Injunction; restraining SUBEB from further tampering with the claimants’ employment.
4. Cost; of N1,000,000 awarded to the claimants. The claim for general damages was refused.

As of press time, SUBEB Chairman Dr. Grace Adagba was yet to respond to the allegations.

The protesters vowed to sustain their agitation until the state government complies fully with the court judgment.

The Roman Catholic Mission (RCM) Primary School Adamgbe, founded in 1932 is the oldest primary school in Vandeikya LGA and the second oldest in Jechira land, after the one in Korinya.

Today, it stands in a very sorry state — a silent testimony to how far we have fallen in prioritizing basic education.

Walls are left bare. Roofs have been ripped off by wind and rain.

In the classrooms, teachers still rely on outdated chalk and blackboards to teach children who are supposed to be the future of Benue State.

Yet in the same land, appointees of Governor Hyacinth Alia, traditional rulers and religious leaders cruise the dirt roads that crisscross our poor agrarian state in exotic cars reportedly worth N280 million. The contrast is sharp and painful.

The irony is starker at St. Robert Catholic Rectory, Adamgbe, the founder of the school, which receives serious attention and regular maintenance.

Meanwhile, the school that builds the future leaders, the doctors, teachers and politicians of tomorrow is left to rot.

What kind of life will children who pass through RCM Adamgbe live? What kind of people are we grooming?

This school is not ordinary. It boasts of men and women who have excelled in diverse areas of endeavour, who were past pupils of the school.

Some are professors. Some are big politicians. Some are leaders in government and the private sector.

The foundation they got was laid here, in these same crumbling classrooms.

Governor Alia’s government has repeatedly claimed it has renovated all dilapidated schools in Benue State. But right in his backyard the reality is different.

It also claims to be running free primary education. If this is “free education,” then it is free indeed — free of roofs, free of desks, free of modern teaching tools. It is freedom to rot: and no one cares.

What is the essence of opening new universities and announcing mega projects when basic education is barely provided? Is this not putting the cart before the horse?

You cannot build a house starting from the roof. A state that neglects its primary schools is mortgaging its future.

The children of Adamgbe, Mbayongo, and Vandeikya deserve better.

They deserve classrooms with roofs, teachers with tools and this government owes them that: to match its words with action.

We must ask: will we allow this legacy to collapse on our watch?

The time to act is now.

Dr. Ngutor Anyam
Director General, Prof. Sebastine Tar Hon SAN Gubernatorial Campaign Organisation