President says his struggle to fund university education shaped his commitment to expanding access to affordable education for Nigerian students.
President Bola Tinubu has revealed how he worked as a taxi driver in the United States to finance his university education, describing the experience as one of the reasons behind his administration’s commitment to expanding access to education through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
In a post on his X handle on Wednesday, President Tinubu said he had to postpone starting school for several months after arriving in the US to save enough money for his education. He later moved to Chicago, where he took up different jobs to pay his tuition and accommodation expenses while studying at university.
The President said his personal experience had strengthened his belief that every Nigerian child deserved equal educational opportunities, regardless of family background or financial circumstances.
Tinubu disclosed that NELFUND had provided more than ₦372 billion in student loans to cover institutional fees and upkeep. He also said students in federal and selected state technical colleges were benefiting from free tuition, boarding, textbooks and uniforms.
He added that the government’s technical and vocational education programme had attracted over 2.8 million applications, while 38 technical colleges had been rehabilitated.
On university education, President Tinubu said his administration had reached a new agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which provides for a 40 per cent increase in academic staff remuneration and measures to improve stability in the sector. He maintained that students should complete their programmes within the stipulated period, insisting that a four-year course should take four years.
The President further disclosed that more than one million children who were previously out of school had returned to learning, while the government was investing in teacher development, girls’ education and a revised national curriculum that restores Nigerian history to classrooms.
President Tinubu also said the Federal Government was investing ₦110 billion in the rehabilitation of 24 medical schools, while annual nursing enrolment had increased from 28,000 to 115,000. He added that enrolment in medical and dental programmes had risen from 5,000 to 12,000.
He urged Nigerians to explore the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative through an interactive platform developed by the Ministry of Education and encouraged communities to report challenges affecting schools to help the government address gaps in the sector.