Tinubu’s Education Reforms: FG disburses ₦372.62bn in student loans, trains 156,446 TVET beneficiaries

President Tinubu

The Federal Government has disbursed ₦372.62 billion in student loans and provided free technical and vocational training to more than 156,000 beneficiaries under President Bola Tinubu’s education reforms, according to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council.

The council said the reforms had expanded access to education, improved teachers’ welfare and strengthened academic stability in tertiary institutions.

In a press statement issued on Wednesday and signed by Dele Alake, spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, the council cited the 2026 report of the Nigerian Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI) of the Federal Ministry of Education.

According to the report, the reforms span basic, secondary, technical and tertiary education, with interventions targeting six priority areas: technical and vocational education, science and medical sciences, out-of-school children, girl-child education, digitalisation and education quality assurance.

The council said the Federal Government allocated ₦3.52 trillion to education 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 more than one million out-of-school children to learning, trained 1,400 Tsangaya teachers and established 200 bilingual centres across 17 northern states.

The Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), it said, had reached 7.19 million girls, with 3.7 million enrolled in secondary schools. More than 10,000 schools had also benefited from improved facilities.

The council said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) had processed 1,659,853 student loan applications and disbursed ₦372.62 billion to beneficiaries across 319 tertiary institutions.

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

Under the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme, the government reportedly received more than 2.8 million applications, with 156,446 verified trainees benefiting from free training, monthly stipends and start-up support.

The statement said more than ₦65.7 billion had been disbursed to trainees, while ₦30.2 billion had gone to training centres.

It added that 38 technical colleges had been rehabilitated, while free technical education covered tuition, boarding, textbooks and uniforms.

The council said the government had introduced a revised national curriculum, reintroducing Nigerian History and strengthening Civic and Heritage Studies.

It also said the National Learning Assessment had been restored to monitor pupils’ performance and identify learning gaps.

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

The programme, backed by ₦2 billion, targets 250,000 teachers by 2027.

The council further claimed that the Tinubu 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 and improved welfare benefits.

It said 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.

According to the statement, the Federal Government is investing ₦110 billion to rehabilitate 18 federal medical schools across the six geopolitical zones.

Nursing enrolment reportedly increased from 81,480 in 2023 to 114,300 in 2025. The government has also approved 20 STEM-focused tertiary institutions and plans to rehabilitate 12 engineering and technology faculties.

On research and innovation, the council said the government had provided ₦365 million annually for the National Laureate Prize.

It added that the Student Venture Capital Grant had disbursed more than ₦2.5 billion to 45 student entrepreneurs, with each beneficiary eligible for up to ₦50 million in equity-free funding.

Entrepreneurship certification is ongoing in 14 federal universities, while the Diaspora BRIDGE initiative has registered 1,141 Nigerian experts abroad and reached 16,675 students across 107 tertiary institutions.

The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said the success of the reforms would be measured by their impact on students, teachers and institutions rather than the amount of money allocated 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,” Mr Alausa was quoted as saying.