By Emmanuel Onyedika
Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has declared that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is expanding access to higher education by removing financial barriers that have long prevented many qualified Nigerians from pursuing their academic aspirations, while investing over ₦1 trillion in the past two years to transform tertiary education.
Speaking during a meeting with members of the National Committee for the advancement of occupational therapy, audiology and speech therapy education, Alausa said the reforms are designed to ensure that every qualified Nigerian, regardless of economic background, has access to quality higher education. He stressed that universities, polytechnics and colleges of education are being strengthened to produce the skilled workforce needed for national development.
“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,” Alausa said.
He described the reforms as a strategic investment in Nigeria’s future through human capital development. “We thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for believing in the youth of this country and giving them all the opportunities for them to excel, to be useful to themselves, to their communities, to the country and to the global world at large,” he added.
According to the Minister, students have emerged among the greatest beneficiaries of the Renewed Hope Agenda, with the Federal Government backing its commitment through unprecedented investments. He explained that ₦250 billion has been invested in constructing new student hostels across tertiary institutions, while another ₦150 billion has gone into rehabilitating existing hostels, classrooms, engineering workshops and other academic facilities.
Highlighting the administration’s commitment to medical education, Alausa disclosed that more than ₦130 billion has been invested in rehabilitating medical schools and expanding their training capacity nationwide. He further stated that ₦52 billion has been committed to providing modern equipment for 18 medical schools, while nearly ₦30 billion has been invested in establishing 11 state-of-the-art medical simulation laboratories to enhance practical clinical training.
To strengthen engineering education and support Nigeria’s industrial development, the Minister said the Federal Government has also invested almost ₦110 billion in constructing and rehabilitating engineering workshops and providing modern equipment for Federal Universities of Technology, conventional universities offering engineering programmes and polytechnics.