By Felix Khanoba
Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, has disclosed that more than N1 trillion has been committed to revitalising Nigeria’s tertiary education sector within the last two years, with the investments targeted at expanding access to higher education, upgrading infrastructure and improving the quality of teaching, learning and research across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
Alausa said the administration of President Bola Tinubu has prioritised removing financial obstacles that previously prevented many qualified Nigerians from accessing higher education, insisting that economic hardship should no longer stand in the way of academic advancement.
The Minister made the disclosure during a meeting with members of the National Committee for the Advancement of Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech Therapy Education, according to a statement issued on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah.
Alausa explained that the Federal Government’s education reforms are designed to widen access to quality tertiary education while strengthening higher institutions to produce the skilled workforce required for national development and economic growth.
He said President Tinubu has continued to demonstrate strong commitment to human capital development by implementing policies and making sustained investments aimed at expanding educational opportunities and enhancing learning conditions nationwide.
“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.
The Minister described the administration’s education agenda as a long-term investment in Nigeria’s future, driven by a deliberate focus on empowering young Nigerians through quality 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,” he said.
Providing a breakdown of the investments, Alausa said the Federal Government has allocated ₦250 billion for the construction of new student hostels in tertiary institutions to improve accommodation and create a more conducive learning environment.
He added that over ₦150 billion has been spent on the rehabilitation of hostels, classrooms, engineering workshops and other academic facilities to strengthen teaching, research and learning.
According to the Minister, the health education sector has also received significant attention, with more than ₦130 billion invested in the rehabilitation of medical schools and the expansion of their training capacity.
He further revealed that another ₦52 billion has been earmarked for the procurement of modern equipment for 18 medical schools, while almost ₦30 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.
On engineering education, Alausa said nearly ₦110 billion has been committed to constructing and rehabilitating engineering workshops and supplying modern equipment to Federal Universities of Technology, conventional universities offering engineering programmes and polytechnics.
The Minister described the interventions as among the most ambitious investments ever made in Nigeria’s tertiary education system, noting that the over ₦1 trillion expenditure covers infrastructure development, rehabilitation projects, acquisition of modern equipment, expansion of specialised laboratories and workshops, as well as institutional capacity building.
“This is amazing. This is just mind-boggling what this President has done in rapidly transforming tertiary education,” Alausa added.
He maintained that beyond infrastructure, the investments are repositioning tertiary institutions to produce graduates equipped with the knowledge, technical expertise and practical skills needed to drive innovation, industrialisation and sustainable economic development.
Earlier, 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 activities since its inauguration.
She disclosed that the committee had developed a one-year implementation plan with defined timelines, measurable deliverables and key performance indicators. She also said a governance structure had been established, comprising quarterly physical meetings, monthly virtual meetings and three specialised subcommittees covering advocacy and communication, academic liaison and clinical training, as well as manpower development and transition pathways.
Dr. Amu revealed that a baseline assessment showed that six Nigerian universities currently offer Audiology programmes, five run 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 bodies and private tertiary institutions. According to her, the first stakeholders’ engagement was held in Benin City, Edo State.
She further noted that Occupational Therapy programmes are expanding across the country, with the University of Benin set to commence the programme in the 2026/2027 academic session, while identifying delays in the release of TETFund support as the major implementation challenge.
