President Bola Tinubu has recalled how he funded his university education in the United States by driving a taxi and taking other jobs, saying the experience shaped his commitment to expanding access to education in Nigeria.
Tinubu made this known in a statement on his official X account on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, while highlighting his administration’s education reforms.
He said financial difficulties forced him to postpone his enrolment for several months after arriving in the US to save for tuition and other expenses. After moving to Chicago, he worked different jobs to support himself through university.
The President said the experience gave him an understanding of the financial challenges students face and reinforced his determination to ensure that poverty does not deny Nigerian children educational opportunities.
Highlighting his administration’s interventions, Tinubu said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) had provided more than ₦372 billion in loans for students’ institutional fees and upkeep.
NELFUND was established under the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2024, which Tinubu signed on April 3, 2024. The law provides eligible students with interest-free financial assistance and removes the family-income threshold and guarantor requirement under the previous framework.
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On technical education, he said the government’s programme had attracted more than 2.8 million applications, while 38 technical colleges had been rehabilitated. Students in federal and selected state technical colleges also benefit from free tuition, boarding, textbooks and uniforms.
Tinubu further cited a new agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), providing for a 40 per cent increase in academic staff remuneration and measures to improve stability in the university system.
He said the government was also investing ₦110 billion in the rehabilitation of 24 medical schools, while annual nursing enrolment had risen from 28,000 to 115,000. Admissions into medical and dental programmes, he added, had increased from 5,000 to 12,000.
On basic education, the President reported that more than one million previously out-of-school children had returned to classrooms. He also highlighted efforts to improve teacher development, expand girls’ education and restore Nigerian History to the national curriculum.
He announced an interactive platform under the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI) to provide information on government education programmes and opportunities.
Tinubu urged Nigerians to use the platform and report challenges affecting schools in their communities, reiterating his commitment to ensuring that financial circumstances do not determine a child’s educational prospects.