The Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) has urged former beneficiaries of the fund to make arrangements and pay off their study loans.

NSFAF's Acting Chief Executive Officer Kennedy Kandume says paying back the loans will enable the fund to assist more students in need of financial assistance.

"Let me remind the current and potential beneficiaries that the financial system is a loan, and the beneficiaries are expected to pay it back once they complete their studies. And I'm emphasising once they complete their studies, because there is misinformation that has been going out there that NSFAF is asking students to pay back. We are not asking students to pay back. We are asking former beneficiaries who are no longer students, maybe those that are doing postgraduates and want to be funded at the postgraduate level as well. But we are asking the accountants who are all school principals, teachers, judges, and even ministers who benefitted from this fund to pay back so that this fund functions as a evolving fund. I think the intention, if you look at the Act, is that this fund should give loans so that those who complete their study working any income pay back, so that the new cohort is then funded from that money. For years, we had been struggling with that. We have made significant improvement in terms of the number of loans recovered, but not at the level to fund the new intake. And if you compare that to the amount that is owed, it's quite significant."