President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has recounted how he worked as a taxi driver and took up other jobs in the United States to finance his university education.
The President disclosed this in a post on his X handle on Wednesday, November 4, while highlighting his administration’s efforts to improve access to education in Nigeria.
Tinubu explained that upon arriving in the United States as a young man, he had to postpone starting school for several months to save enough money for his studies.
He said he eventually moved to Chicago, where he combined different jobs to pay his tuition and accommodation expenses.
According to him, the experience gave him a firsthand understanding of the financial challenges students face while pursuing higher education.
Tinubu said his personal experience influenced his belief that every Nigerian child should have access to quality education, irrespective of their family background or financial circumstances.
Highlighting his administration’s achievements in the education sector, the President disclosed that the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) had provided over ₦372 billion in student loans to cover institutional fees and upkeep allowances.
He also revealed that the Federal Government’s technical and vocational education programme had attracted more than 2.8 million applications, while 38 technical colleges had been rehabilitated.
Tinubu further stated that students in federal and selected state technical colleges now benefit from free tuition, boarding, textbooks and uniforms.
On university education, he said his administration had reached an 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 nation’s universities.
The President also disclosed that 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 also risen from 5,000 to 12,000.
Tinubu maintained that education remained central to his administration’s development agenda, stressing that a child’s background should not determine the limits of their ambitions.
He urged parents, students and teachers to explore the government’s Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative platform to access information about available educational programmes and opportunities.
