GASABO - The Students Financing Agency of Rwanda (SFAR) recovered Rwf 463,400.000 million in 2008 in the Loan Recovery and Repayment Exercise.

The exercise which was launched last year, aims at recovering student loans from people who benefited from the government loan facility from as far back as 1980.

The students financing body announced the development during an end of year get-together party to celebrate the achievements of 2008 and reward institutions and individuals who have managed to successfully pay back the loans in time. The function was held at Royale Villas in Nyarutarama.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Director General of SFAR, Emmanuel Muvunyi said that there is a significant progress in the loan recovery scheme launched in May 2008 and is targeting to recover 1bn Rwf by the end of 2009.

The agency also awarded top institutions and employers who managed to have their workers who benefited from the student loan pay back. The Social Security Fund of Rwanda emerged first, followed by the office of the Ombudsman.

In the individual category, Vivien Munyaburanga,  a lecturer at the National University of Rwanda was rewarded for paying back his loan worth Rwf 790,000 in one chunk as well as that of his close friend worth Rwf 680,000.

As a sign of goodwill, employees of SFAR who benefited from the loan scheme also managed to pay back, emerging third overall.

Speaking on the occasion, the chairperson of the SFAR Board of Directors, Dr. Rose Mukankomeje, commended employers and individuals who managed to reimburse the funds saying they were not only showing goodwill but are also helping thousands of young Rwandans to join universities and other higher institutions of learning.

"We are targeting to collect about Rwf 4bn in 4 years and this money will be, recycled to sponsor many other Rwandans in different universities in and outside the country” said Mukankomeje, urging other beneficiaries to follow suit and repay the loans.

Muvunyi noted that apart from launching the loan recovery scheme, the agency achieved a lot in 2008 including increasing the number of students who received government bursaries and loans from 14,743 in 2007 to 15.710 in 2008. He said that the agency targets about 16,500 beneficiary students in 2009.

He also revealed that the number of cooperation scholarships increased in 2008 with 156 students benefiting from the scholarships offered to bright students in the country to study in different universities across the world in collaboration with different development partners such as UNESCO.

Muvunyi also added that the agency together with the Rwanda Information Technology Agency developed a student’s database known as the SFAR Management Information System (MIS), which will contain all the data on government loan beneficiaries and track the repayment system.

Among other achievements, the agency managed to get membership in the Association of Africa Higher Education Financing Agencies (AAHEFA), an association of the East Africa Students financing agencies of the East African Community.

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