Tinubu’s Education Reforms Deliver ₦372bn Student Loans, 156,000 TVET Beneficiaries – APC

Tinubu’s Education Reforms Deliver ₦372bn Student Loans, 156,000 TVET Beneficiaries – APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has highlighted the achievements of President Bola Tinubu’s administration in the education sector, citing the disbursement of ₦372.62 billion in student loans, enrolment of more than 156,000 trainees in technical and vocational education, and the return of over one million out-of-school children to classrooms.

The council also disclosed that the Federal Government had secured $552 million for basic education interventions, rehabilitated technical colleges and introduced measures aimed at improving teachers’ welfare and stabilising the academic calendar in tertiary institutions.

The achievements were contained in the Federal Ministry of Education’s Nigerian Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI) 2026 report, cited in a statement issued on Wednesday by Dele Alake, spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

According to the report, the administration’s education reforms are structured around six priority areas: technical and vocational education, science and medical sciences, out-of-school children, girl-child education, digitalisation and quality assurance.

On basic education funding, the council said the Federal Government allocated ₦3.52 trillion to the sector in the 2026 budget and secured $552 million for the HOPE-EDU programme, which targets 29 million children, more than 500,000 teachers and 65,000 public schools.

It added that the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) programme had returned over one million out-of-school children to learning, trained 1,400 Tsangaya teachers and established 200 bilingual centres across 17 northern states.

The statement further disclosed that the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) programme had reached 7.19 million girls, with 3.7 million enrolled in secondary schools, while more than 10,000 schools had benefited from improved facilities.

On curriculum development and teacher professionalisation, the council said the government had introduced a revised national curriculum that reintroduced Nigerian History and strengthened Civic and Heritage Studies.

It also cited the restoration of the National Learning Assessment to monitor pupils’ academic performance and identify learning gaps.

Under the EduRevamp initiative, 53,553 teachers had registered, while 51,794 joined the first cohort of the Accelerated Teacher Professionalisation Pathway (ATPP), a six-month programme designed to provide professional qualifications, certification and licensing.

The programme, backed by ₦2 billion, is targeting 250,000 teachers by 2027. The administration has also introduced Inspire Live, an online learning initiative providing lessons from Primary One to Senior Secondary School Three, supported by certified teachers and artificial intelligence-assisted learning.

In technical and vocational education, the APC council said the government’s TVET programme had attracted more than 2.8 million applications, with 156,446 verified trainees receiving free training, monthly stipends and start-up support.

It disclosed that over ₦65.7 billion had been disbursed to trainees, while another ₦30.2 billion had gone to training centres. The government has also rehabilitated 38 technical colleges and introduced free technical education covering tuition, boarding, textbooks and uniforms.

On tertiary education financing, the statement identified the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as a major intervention, saying it had processed 1,659,853 student loan applications and disbursed ₦372.62 billion to beneficiaries across 319 tertiary institutions.

The amount comprises ₦192.89 billion for tuition fees and ₦179.73 billion for students’ upkeep allowances.

The council also said the administration had resolved the longstanding dispute between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and implemented an agreement providing a 40 per cent increase in academic staff remuneration alongside improved welfare benefits.

Additionally, the Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund had disbursed ₦28 billion to 15,000 workers across 153 public institutions, offering eligible staff loans of up to ₦10 million for housing, healthcare, transportation and education.

In medical and science education, the Federal Government is investing ₦110 billion to rehabilitate 18 federal medical schools across the six geopolitical zones.

The statement added that nursing enrolment increased from 81,480 in 2023 to 114,300 in 2025, while 20 STEM-focused tertiary institutions had been approved and 12 engineering and technology faculties earmarked for rehabilitation.

The administration’s research and innovation interventions include an annual allocation of ₦365 million for research through the National Laureate Prize and over ₦2.5 billion in equity-free funding disbursed to 45 student entrepreneurs under the Student Venture Capital Grant.

Each beneficiary can access up to ₦50 million in funding, while entrepreneurship certification is ongoing in 14 federal universities.

The council also highlighted the Diaspora BRIDGE initiative, which has registered 1,141 Nigerian experts abroad and reached 16,675 students across 107 tertiary institutions.

Commenting on the reported progress, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the success of the administration’s reforms should be assessed based on their actual impact on students, teachers and educational institutions rather than financial allocations or the number of programmes introduced.

“Our measure of success is not merely the amount of money allocated to education or the number of programmes introduced. It is the difference these interventions make in the lives of our children, students, teachers and institutions,” Alausa was quoted as saying.

The APC Presidential Campaign Council said the interventions reflected the administration’s commitment to expanding access to education, strengthening technical capacity and improving the quality of learning across the country.

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