President Bola Tinubu has recalled how he once drove a taxi in the United States to raise money for his education, saying the experience shaped his determination to expand educational opportunities for Nigerian children.
Tinubu said he had to postpone starting school for several months after arriving in the United States because he needed to save enough money to fund his education.
The president shared his thoughts on his personal social media accounts on Wednesday.
According to him, he later moved to Chicago, where he worked different jobs while paying his way through university.
“I know what it means to worry about tuition, accommodation and how to make ends meet while pursuing an education,” Tinubu said in a statement on Wednesday.
He said those experiences had remained with him and influenced his belief that a child’s prospects should not be determined by the circumstances of his or her birth.
“I know what education made possible in my own life, and I believe every Nigerian child deserves that same opportunity, regardless of where they are born or what their parents can afford,” he said.
Tinubu said this was one of the reasons education remained a major priority of his administration, highlighting a range of programmes and interventions of his government to widen access to education and improve learning outcomes.
He said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) had provided more than ₦372 billion in student loans for institutional fees and upkeep, helping young Nigerians remain in school.
NELFUND was established under the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, which empowers it to provide loans covering tuition, institutional charges and upkeep for qualified students in tertiary and vocational institutions.
Tinubu also said the administration’s technical and vocational education programme had attracted more than 2.8 million applications, while 38 technical colleges had been rehabilitated.
Students in federal and selected state technical colleges, he added, now benefit from free school fees, boarding, textbooks and uniforms.
On university education, the President said his administration had reached a new agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), providing for a 40 per cent increase in academic staff remuneration and measures aimed at improving stability in the university system.
“A four-year course must take four years. Our young people deserve to complete their education on time and get on with their lives,” Tinubu said, describing the development as a fulfilment of a campaign promise.
He also highlighted investments in medical education, saying ₦110 billion was being invested in rehabilitating 24 medical schools.
Tinubu said annual nursing enrolment had increased from 28,000 to 115,000, while medical and dental enrolment had risen from 5,000 to 12,000.
Current Federal Ministry of Education data separately shows that nursing enrolment increased from 81,480 in 2023 to 114,300 in 2025, alongside an increase in nursing institutions from 294 to 342.
The President said Nigeria needed to increase its capacity to train doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals domestically.
Beyond tertiary education, Tinubu said more than one million children who were previously out of school had returned to learning, while the Federal Government was investing in teacher development and expanding educational opportunities for girls.
He also pointed to the implementation of a new national curriculum that restores Nigerian History to classrooms.
“Our children must know where we have come from, understand the country they belong to, and be prepared to take responsibility for its future,” he said.
Tinubu commended Education Minister Maruf Tunji Alausa, Minister of State for Education Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad and other members of the education team for their work on the reforms.
He also urged parents, students and teachers to explore the A–Z of the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), an interactive platform developed by the education team to provide information on reforms, programmes, achievements and opportunities across the education sector.
Tinubu invited Nigerians to provide feedback where education programmes were not working as intended, saying such reports would help the government identify and address problems.
The President said the country’s journey from reform to opportunities and shared prosperity must begin with education.
“The circumstances of a child’s birth should never determine the limits of their ambition,” he said. “Our responsibility is to give every Nigerian child a fair chance to fulfil their potential.”
He acknowledged that more work remained to be done, adding that he was determined to see the education reforms through.
