FG: No Qualified Nigerian Will Miss Higher Education Over Poverty

The Federal Government has reassured Nigerians that financial hardship will no longer stand in the way of any qualified student seeking higher education, pointing to over ₦1 trillion in investments across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education under President Bola Tinubu's administration. Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, gave the assurance during a meeting with the National Committee for the Advancement of Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech and Language Therapy Education. Details of the meeting were shared in a statement issued Tuesday by the minister's Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah. Alausa said the administration has worked to remove financial obstacles that previously kept many young Nigerians out of tertiary education. "This President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has opened up access to students so that not having money, or coming from an indigent family, or your parents being poor, will no longer stop you from achieving the opportunities you can achieve in life. Education is no longer a barrier for students in this country," he said, framing the reforms as part of a broader push to empower young Nigerians to contribute to national development. Detailing the scale of government investment, Alausa said ₦250 billion has gone into constructing new student hostels across tertiary institutions, alongside more than ₦150 billion spent rehabilitating existing hostels, classrooms and academic facilities. He added that over ₦130 billion has been channelled into rehabilitating medical schools and expanding their training capacity, with a further ₦52 billion approved for modern equipment in 18 medical schools and nearly ₦30 billion invested in setting up 11 medical simulation laboratories. On engineering education, he said close to ₦110 billion has been committed to building and upgrading engineering workshops and equipment across federal universities of technology, conventional universities and polytechnics. Describing the interventions as among the largest in the history of Nigeria's tertiary education sector, Alausa said the goal is to equip graduates with the technical skills needed to drive industrialisation and economic growth. "This is amazing. This is just mind-boggling what this President has done in rapidly transforming tertiary education," he said, adding that the ministry remains committed to working with institutions to ensure the reforms translate into better outcomes for students. At the same meeting, Chairman of the National Committee for the Advancement of Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech and Language Therapy Education, Dr Victoria Omua Amu, briefed the minister on the committee's progress, including a one-year implementation plan, a new governance framework and specialised subcommittees focused on advocacy and manpower development. She disclosed that six Nigerian universities currently run Audiology programmes, five offer Occupational Therapy, and three offer Speech and Language Therapy, with the University of Benin set to begin an Occupational Therapy programme in the 2026/2027 academic session. She identified delays in the release of TETFund support as a key challenge affecting the committee's work. The broader push to expand access to higher education forms part of the Tinubu administration's Renewed Hope Agenda, which has also seen the rollout of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund offering interest-free loans to eligible students, alongside increased infrastructure investment through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.