(Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa. Photo Credit: Premuim Times)
The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that no qualified student will be denied access to higher education due to financial hardship, saying President Bola Tinubu’s administration has removed financial barriers to tertiary education through student-focused reforms and investments exceeding ₦1 trillion across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, gave this assurance during a meeting with members of the National Committee for the Advancement of Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech and Language Therapy Education.
According to a statement released on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah, the minister said the administration remains committed to ensuring that every qualified Nigerian, irrespective of economic background, has access to quality higher education.
Alausa said President Tinubu had prioritised human capital development through policies designed to eliminate the financial obstacles that previously prevented many young Nigerians from pursuing tertiary education, stressing that financial hardship or coming from a poor background should no longer stand in the way of any student’s opportunities, adding that education is no longer a barrier in the country.
He said the President’s reforms were aimed at empowering young Nigerians to contribute meaningfully to national development, expressing appreciation to Tinubu for investing in the country’s youth and giving them the opportunity to excel and be useful to themselves, their communities, the nation and the wider world.
Beyond expanding access, the minister said the government had backed its commitment with unprecedented investment exceeding ₦1 trillion in the tertiary education sector over the past two years.
According to him, ₦250 billion has been committed to building new student hostels across tertiary institutions, while more than ₦150 billion has gone into rehabilitating existing hostels, classrooms, engineering workshops and other academic facilities.
He further disclosed that over ₦130 billion had been invested in rehabilitating medical schools and expanding their training capacity nationwide, with an additional ₦52 billion approved for modern equipment in 18 medical schools, and nearly ₦30 billion invested in setting up 11 modern medical simulation laboratories to strengthen practical clinical training.
To boost engineering education, Alausa said the government had also invested almost ₦110 billion in constructing and rehabilitating engineering workshops and supplying modern equipment for federal universities of technology, conventional universities running engineering programmes, and polytechnics.
He described the interventions as among the largest investments in the history of Nigeria’s tertiary education sector, covering new infrastructure, facility rehabilitation, procurement of modern equipment, expansion of specialised laboratories and workshops, and strengthened institutional capacity for teaching, learning and research, describing the scale of the transformation as remarkable.
He added that the investments would enable tertiary institutions to produce graduates equipped with the knowledge, technical skills and practical competencies needed to drive innovation, industrialisation and long-term economic growth, reaffirming the ministry’s commitment to working with tertiary institutions and other stakeholders to ensure the reforms translate into improved educational outcomes, stronger institutions and expanded opportunities for students.
During the meeting, the 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 activities, noting that it had developed a one-year implementation work plan, established a governance framework, and set up specialised subcommittees to advance advocacy, academic collaboration and manpower development.
Amu disclosed that six Nigerian universities currently run Audiology programmes, five offer Occupational Therapy programmes and three offer Speech and Language Therapy programmes, adding that the University of Benin is expected to commence an Occupational Therapy programme in the 2026/2027 academic session.
She, however, identified delays in the release of TETFund support as a major challenge affecting implementation of the committee’s plans.
Expanding access to higher education remains a key component of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. Over the past year, the government has rolled out the Nigerian Education Loan Fund to provide interest-free loans to eligible students, while significantly boosting investment in tertiary education infrastructure through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
The administration has also prioritised the rehabilitation of medical schools, engineering workshops, student hostels and other learning facilities to improve the quality of teaching, research and innovation across the country’s universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.