The Federal Government has invested more than N1 trillion in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector over the past two years, describing the intervention as one of the largest investments in the country’s higher education history aimed at expanding access and improving the quality of learning.

The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, disclosed this while addressing members of the National Committee for the Advancement of Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech and Language Therapy Education.

According to the minister, the massive investment reflects President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to ensuring that financial hardship no longer prevents qualified Nigerians from pursuing higher education.

“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.”

Dr Alausa said the administration’s education reforms are focused on strengthening universities, polytechnics and colleges of education while producing the skilled workforce required to drive Nigeria’s economic growth and national development.

He explained that N250 billion has been committed to constructing new student hostels across tertiary institutions to improve accommodation and create a more conducive learning environment.

Another N150 billion, he said, is being spent on rehabilitating existing hostels, classrooms, engineering workshops and other academic facilities to enhance teaching, research and learning.

The minister also highlighted significant investments in medical education, revealing that more than N130 billion has been allocated to rehabilitate medical schools and expand their training capacity nationwide.

He added that N52 billion has been invested in procuring modern equipment for 18 medical schools, while nearly N30 billion is funding the establishment of 11 state-of-the-art medical simulation laboratories to improve practical clinical training.

To strengthen engineering education, Dr. Alausa said the Federal Government has 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.

Describing the interventions as unprecedented, the minister said the over N1 trillion investment covers infrastructure development, rehabilitation of existing facilities, procurement of modern equipment, expansion of specialised laboratories and workshops, and institutional capacity building.

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

Dr Alausa maintained that the investments go beyond physical infrastructure, saying they are designed to equip Nigerian graduates with the technical knowledge and practical skills needed to drive innovation, industrialisation and long-term economic transformation.

During the meeting, Chairperson of the National Committee for the Advancement of Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech and Language Therapy Education, Dr Victoria Omua Amu, said the committee had developed a one-year implementation plan and commenced consultations with the National Universities Commission (NUC), universities and other stakeholders to expand specialised healthcare education in Nigeria.

She noted that six Nigerian universities currently offer Audiology programmes, five offer Occupational Therapy, while three run Speech and Language Therapy programmes, adding that the University of Benin will commence Occupational Therapy in the 2026/2027 academic session.

The minister reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring that no qualified Nigerian is denied access to higher education because of financial constraints, while pledging continued support for tertiary institutions to deliver world-class teaching, research and innovation.