ABUJA — President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has revealed that his early personal struggles as an international student driving a taxi and taking up menial jobs in the United States served as the core motivation for his administration’s sweeping higher education reforms.
In a statement shared via his official X account on Wednesday, President Tinubu reflected on the financial hurdles he faced as a young man studying in America.
The Nigerian leader disclosed that upon arriving in the U.S., he was forced to delay his university enrollment for several months just to work and save enough money to cover his basic expenses. After subsequently moving to Chicago, he took up multiple jobs, including driving taxis and working menial tasks, to fund his tuition, housing, and everyday upkeep while pursuing his degree.
Linking his past hardship to current federal policy, President Tinubu emphasized that no student in Nigeria should be denied access to higher education due to financial distress. He noted that those formative experiences shaped his conviction that education is the ultimate vehicle for social mobility, which informed the rollout of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
Under NELFUND—established by the Students Loans Act of 2024—the Federal Government has disbursed over ₦372 billion in interest-free loans to cover institutional fees and living stipends for public tertiary students across the nation.
The President also highlighted broader educational achievements, noting that over one million previously out-of-school children have returned to classrooms, alongside ongoing teacher development programs and the launching of an interactive digital platform, the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (edu4pbat.ng), to expand access and track community education challenges.
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