President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has invested over N1 trillion in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector within the past two years to expand access to higher education, strengthen infrastructure and improve the quality of teaching, learning and research across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa, made this known during a meeting with members of the National Committee for the Advancement of Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech and Language Therapy Education.

The Minister said the administration is removing the financial barriers that have historically prevented many qualified Nigerians from pursuing higher education, while making unprecedented investments in modern educational infrastructure and specialised training facilities.

According to him, the reforms are designed to ensure that every qualified Nigerian, irrespective of economic background, has access to quality tertiary education while equipping institutions to produce the skilled workforce required to drive national development and economic growth.

Alausa said President Tinubu has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to investing in Nigeria’s human capital through bold education policies and sustained funding.

“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,” he said.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Minister’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Mr. Ikharo Attah, Dr. Alausa described the President’s education reforms as a strategic investment in Nigeria’s future.

He commended President Tinubu for prioritising Nigerian youths and creating opportunities for them to excel through improved access to higher education.

“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 be useful to their communities, to be useful to the country and to the global world at large,” the Minister stated.

Highlighting the scale of the investments, Dr. Alausa disclosed that the Federal Government has committed N250 billion to the construction of new student hostels across tertiary institutions to improve accommodation and create more conducive learning environments.

He added that over N150 billion has been invested in the rehabilitation of existing hostels, classrooms, engineering workshops and other academic facilities to enhance teaching, learning and research.

The Minister further revealed that the government has invested more than N130 billion in rehabilitating medical schools and expanding their training capacity nationwide.

According to him, another N52 billion has been committed to equipping 18 medical schools with modern facilities, while nearly N30 billion has been invested in establishing 11 state-of-the-art medical simulation laboratories to improve practical clinical training and produce globally competitive healthcare professionals.

To strengthen engineering education, Dr Alausa said the Federal Government has also invested almost N110 billion in constructing and rehabilitating engineering workshops and providing modern equipment for Federal Universities of Technology, conventional universities offering engineering programmes and polytechnics.

He described the interventions as among the most significant investments ever made in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector, noting that the over N1 trillion committed within two years covers new infrastructure, rehabilitation of existing facilities, procurement of modern equipment, expansion of specialised laboratories and workshops, as well as strengthening institutional capacity.

“This is amazing. This is just mind-boggling what this President has done in rapidly transforming tertiary education,” the Minister said.

He explained that beyond infrastructure development, the investments are repositioning Nigerian tertiary institutions to produce graduates with the knowledge, technical skills and practical competencies needed to drive innovation, industrialisation and long-term economic transformation.

Dr. Alausa reaffirmed the Federal Ministry of Education’s commitment to working closely with tertiary institutions and other stakeholders to ensure that the ongoing reforms translate into improved educational outcomes, stronger institutions and greater opportunities for Nigerian students.

He assured Nigerians that no qualified student would be denied access to higher education because of financial hardship, while reiterating the Federal Government’s determination to support tertiary institutions in delivering world-class teaching, research and innovation.

Earlier, the Chairman of the National Committee for the Advancement of Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech and Language Therapy Education, Dr. Victoria Omua Amu, briefed the Minister on the Committee’s progress since its inauguration.

She said the Committee has developed a one-year implementation work plan with defined timelines, deliverables and key performance indicators, established a governance framework featuring quarterly physical and monthly virtual meetings, and constituted three specialised subcommittees focusing on advocacy and communication, academic liaison and clinical training, as well as manpower development and transition pathways.

Dr Amu disclosed that a baseline assessment showed that six Nigerian universities currently offer Audiology programmes, five offer Occupational Therapy programmes, while three offer Speech and Language Therapy programmes.

She added that the Committee has commenced consultations with the National Universities Commission (NUC), the Medical Rehabilitation Therapists (Registration) Board of Nigeria (MRTB), universities, professional associations and private tertiary education providers, with its first stakeholder engagement held in Benin City, Edo State.

According to her, Occupational Therapy programmes continue to expand across Nigerian universities, with the University of Benin joining the list of institutions offering the programme from the 2026/2027 academic session.

She, however, identified delays in the release of TETFund support as a major challenge affecting implementation.