‘I Drove Taxi in US to Fund my University Education’ — Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu has revealed that he labored as a taxi driver and held a number of different jobs within the United States to pay for his college training, saying these private struggles proceed to form his authorities’s concentrate on increasing entry to training in Nigeria.

In a put up on his X account on Wednesday, Tinubu defined that he delayed the beginning of his research for a number of months after arriving in America so he might save sufficient cash. Once he moved to Chicago, he took on varied jobs to cowl tuition, lodging and residing bills whereas pursuing his diploma.“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,” he mentioned.

“When I eventually got to Chicago, I worked different jobs to support myself and pay my way through university. I know what it means to worry about tuition, accommodation and how to make ends meet while pursuing an education.“Those experiences have stayed with me. I know what education made possible in my own life, and I believe every Nigerian child deserves that same opportunity, regardless of where they are born or what their parents can afford.”

Tinubu linked his previous to present training insurance policies, noting that the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has thus far disbursed greater than ₦372 billion in interest-free pupil loans to cowl institutional charges and maintenance. The scheme, created underneath the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act signed in 2024, eliminated earlier revenue and guarantor necessities and permits reimbursement to start two years after National Youth Service Corps, tied to a beneficiary’s revenue.

He additionally highlighted progress in technical and vocational training, with over 2.8 million purposes acquired and 38 technical faculties rehabilitated. Students in federal and chosen state technical faculties now obtain free tuition, boarding, textbooks and uniforms.On the college entrance, the president mentioned a brand new settlement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities features a 40 per cent enhance in tutorial employees pay and measures geared toward making certain programmes run on schedule. “A four-year course must take four years,” he said.

Additional investments embody ₦110 billion for the rehabilitation of 24 medical colleges. Nursing enrolment has risen from 28,000 to 115,000, whereas medical and dental enrolment has elevated from 5,000 to 12,000. More than a million beforehand out-of-school kids have returned to lecture rooms, and a brand new nationwide curriculum is restoring Nigerian History to the syllabus.

Tinubu introduced an interactive A–Z platform for the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative at edu4pbat.ng, inviting mother and father, college students, lecturers and communities to discover alternatives and report challenges.He praised the training ministers and their group for driving the reforms, insisting that no little one’s background ought to restrict their ambitions.

Click to signup for FREE information updates, newest data and hottest gists on a regular basis

Advertise on NOP NIGERIA to succeed in 1000’s of our day by day customers