President Bola Tinubu has highlighted his experience financing his university education through menial jobs in the United States, including driving a taxi, as he renewed his administration’s pledge to make education accessible to Nigerians irrespective of their economic backgrounds.
The president disclosed that financial constraints delayed his enrolment after arriving in the US, as he had to spend several months working and saving before commencing his studies in Chicago, Vanguard reported.
Tinubu said the experience gave him firsthand knowledge of the financial pressures students face, particularly in meeting tuition, accommodation and other living expenses while pursuing higher education.
In a message shared on his X account on Wednesday, he maintained that a child’s financial background should not restrict their educational aspirations, stressing that every Nigerian deserved a fair opportunity to succeed.
To support this objective, he pointed to several education interventions introduced by his government, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), which he said had disbursed more than N372 billion in loans to students for tuition and personal upkeep.
He also disclosed that over 2.8 million applications had been received under the government’s technical and vocational education programme, alongside the rehabilitation of 38 technical colleges. Students in federal and selected state technical institutions, he added, now enjoy free tuition, boarding, textbooks and uniforms.
On university reforms, the president said a fresh agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) provides for a 40 per cent salary increase for academic staff, alongside measures aimed at improving the stability of the university system and preventing unnecessary delays in students’ academic programmes.
He insisted that university students should be able to complete their studies within the officially prescribed period, arguing that prolonged academic sessions undermine their ability to move forward with their lives.
“A four-year course must take four years. Our young people deserve to complete their education on time and get on with their lives,” he said.
Tinubu further revealed that N110 billion had been earmarked for the rehabilitation of 24 medical schools, while annual nursing admissions had climbed from 28,000 to 115,000. Admissions into medical and dental programmes, he said, had also increased from 5,000 to 12,000.
The president said the government had also facilitated the return of more than one million out-of-school children to classrooms, while pursuing initiatives focused on teacher training, girls’ education and the introduction of a revised national curriculum incorporating Nigerian history.
He acknowledged the contributions of Education Minister Tunji Alausa, Minister of State for Education Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad and other officials involved in implementing the reforms.
Tinubu also encouraged Nigerians to use an interactive A–Z education platform developed by the ministry under the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative to access information about available government programmes.
He urged parents, teachers, students and other stakeholders to communicate problems affecting schools in their communities, saying such feedback would help the government identify areas requiring attention.
He maintained that expanding access to quality education remained central to his administration’s development agenda, insisting that a child’s circumstances at birth should not determine how far they could go in life.
