President Bola Tinubu has recounted how he worked as a taxi driver and took up several menial jobs in the United States to finance his university education.
Tinubu said the experience shaped his commitment to expanding access to education in Nigeria.
He said he had to postpone the commencement of his studies for several months after arriving in the US to raise enough money to pay his tuition fees and meet other expenses.
The President disclosed this on Wednesday in a post on his official X handle while outlining his administration’s education reforms and initiatives aimed at improving access to learning.
He said his experience of struggling with tuition, accommodation and other expenses as a young student had reinforced his belief that every Nigerian child deserved access to quality education, irrespective of their family background.
“When I first arrived in the United States as a young man, I drove a taxi to earn money for my education. I even had to postpone starting school for several months to save enough.
“When I eventually got to Chicago, I worked different jobs to support myself and pay my way through university,” he said.
Tinubu added that the experience informed his administration’s commitment to ensuring that financial difficulties did not prevent young Nigerians from pursuing their educational ambitions.
Highlighting some of his government’s interventions, the President said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, had provided more than N372 billion in student loans to cover institutional fees and students’ upkeep.
He also disclosed that the government’s technical and vocational education programme had attracted more than 2.8 million applications, while 38 technical colleges had been rehabilitated.
According to him, students in federal and selected state technical colleges now enjoy free tuition, boarding, textbooks and uniforms.
On university education, Tinubu 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 to promote 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,” he said.
The President further announced that N110 billion was being invested in the rehabilitation of 24 medical schools.
He 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.
Mr Tinubu also said more than one million children who were previously out of school had returned to learning.
He urged parents, students and teachers to take advantage of available government programmes, adding that education remained central to his administration’s vision of shared prosperity.
“The circumstances of a child’s birth should never determine the limits of their ambition. Our responsibility is to give every Nigerian child a fair chance to fulfil their potential,” he said.
