In Three Years: How the Tinubu Government Has Fared in the Education Sector

Nigeria’s Education sector, despite well-meaning reforms has often followed a familiar cycle: bold policy announcements that end with eventual stagnation. The sector’s problems are well known and deeply entrenched. Millions of children remain out of school. Universities have long been plagued by recurring strikes. Infrastructure gaps persist. Funding constraints continue to frustrate both students and institutions.

Yet in the past three years, the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu has begun to approach these challenges through a set of interventions that attempt to address three of the sector’s most persistent weaknesses: access to finance, institutional stability, and the quality of learning outcomes.

The emerging reforms of the Bola Tinubu administration do not claim to have solved the sector’s problems. But they suggest the beginnings of a more deliberate effort to reposition education as the foundation of Nigeria’s long-term economic transformation.

For millions of Nigerian families, the greatest obstacle to education is simple: money. School fees, accommodation, books, and daily expenses place tertiary education beyond the reach of many capable students.

The administration’s most consequential response to this challenge has been the creation of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, known widely as Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). The scheme provides interest-free loans to students in public tertiary institutions across the country.

Under the programme, tuition and institutional fees are paid directly to universities and colleges, while students receive a monthly upkeep allowance of N20,000. Applications are processed through a digital portal designed to simplify access and reduce bureaucratic barriers.

Since its launch, over N183.89 billion has been disbursed nationwide. Of this amount, N107.09 billion has gone directly to 265 tertiary institutions for tuition and related fees, while N76.80 billion has been paid to students as living allowances. More than 1.56 million applications have been received.

For nearly one million students who have already benefited, the scheme has removed a structural barrier that has historically forced many young Nigerians to abandon their education.

The design of the programme reflects a deliberate attempt to reduce risk for borrowers. The loans carry zero interest, require no collateral, and repayment does not begin until two years after completion of the National Youth Service Corps. Repayments are structured through employer deductions, ensuring that graduates only begin repayment once they have secured stable employment.

By easing the financial burden on households, the programme is already altering the economic calculus of higher education. Parents can redirect scarce income to other family needs. Students can focus on their studies without the constant anxiety of unpaid fees. And universities themselves receive more predictable funding flows.

In a country where financial hardship remains a leading cause of student drop-outs, such support is transformative.

If funding has been one chronic challenge in Nigerian higher education, instability has been another. For decades, disputes between government and academic unions have led to repeated closures of public universities, disrupting academic calendars and undermining confidence in the system. Upon assuming office, President Tinubu pledged to end the cycle of prolonged strikes that had come to define Nigeria’s university experience.

Since 2023, when President Tinubu assumed office, federal universities have operated without a nationwide strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The uninterrupted academic calendar has had immediate consequences for the country’s academic community. Students are once again able to complete their degrees on schedule rather than losing years to strike shutdowns. Graduates are entering the workforce earlier. Lectures and assessments proceed without interruption, improving knowledge retention and academic performance.

Perhaps just as importantly, the psychological toll that uncertainty imposed on students has been dealt with. A stable academic environment restores confidence not only among students but also among parents and employers who rely on the credibility of university qualifications.

Stability has also been reinforced through renewed attention to staff welfare. In December 2025, the Federal Government approved a 40 per cent salary increase for university lecturers following the conclusion of negotiations on the long-standing 2009 agreement with ASUU.

The renegotiated framework strengthens conditions of service and introduces reforms to funding models, university autonomy, and academic freedom. It also establishes a new budgeting template that provides dedicated allocations for libraries, laboratories, research infrastructure, equipment, and staff development.

Alongside these reforms, the government released N50 billion to settle outstanding allowances owed to lecturers and other tertiary institution staff, clearing backlogs that had accumulated over years of dispute.

To further support the academic workforce, the administration launched the Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund in August 2025. The initiative offers interest-free loans of up to N10 million to staff of federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, repayable over five years with a twelve-month grace period.

The loans support a wide range of needs—from medical expenses and transportation to professional development and academic advancement—helping to strengthen morale within the system.

These interventions aim to restore trust between government and educators.

Stability and financing alone cannot transform education without addressing the quality of learning itself. Nigeria continues to grapple with a large population of out-of-school children, widespread learning poverty, and skills gaps that leave many graduates ill-prepared for modern labour markets.

The Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s response has been the launch of the National Education Sector Renewal Initiative, or National Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), introduced in early 2025.

The programme represents a comprehensive reform agenda designed to move Nigeria from a resource-based economy toward a knowledge-driven one. Its focus spans six priority areas: expanding technical and vocational education, upgrading school infrastructure, advancing girls’ education, reintegrating out-of-school children, reforming curricula to include digital literacy and entrepreneurship, and introducing data-driven systems for monitoring educational performance.

Early results already suggest momentum. More than 25,000 out-of-school children have already been integrated back into classrooms. Around 4,000 Tsangaya teachers have been trained and mainstreamed into formal learning structures. Enrolment in technical and vocational education programmes has increased to roughly 650,000 students. Meanwhile, 38 technical colleges have been upgraded across the country, supported by digital monitoring systems designed to strengthen transparency and accountability.

The emphasis on vocational education reflects the government’s recognition that economic growth requires more than academic degrees. By aligning skills training with labour market needs, the programme aims to produce graduates capable of driving productivity and entrepreneurship.

One of the most persistent inequities in Nigeria’s education system remains the gender gap in access to schooling, particularly in underserved communities. To address this, the administration launched the LUMINAH 2030 initiative in March 2025, targeting the empowerment of more than one million underserved girls and women by the end of the decade.

The programme—whose name reflects a framework built around Learning, Uniting, Modernising, Innovating, Nurturing, Accelerating, and Harmonising—combines educational access with economic empowerment.

For younger girls aged five to fifteen, the initiative provides accelerated learning programmes aimed at reintegrating out-of-school children into basic education. Adolescent girls between fifteen and eighteen are supported with pathways into senior secondary education, vocational training, and leadership development.

The programme also recognises the link between women’s economic empowerment and educational outcomes. This initiative strengthens household income and increases the likelihood that girls remain in school.

Educated girls tend to marry later, raise healthier families, and invest more in the education of their children. Expanding access for girls therefore carries benefits that extend well beyond the classroom.

Nigeria’s education challenges remain formidable. Millions of children are still outside the school system. Infrastructure deficits persist across many institutions. And sustained implementation will ultimately determine whether today’s reforms deliver lasting results.

Yet the interventions of the past three years suggest a shift in approach.

Through NELFUND, financial barriers to tertiary education are being reduced. Through improved staff welfare and renewed agreements with academic unions, stability is returning to universities. Through NESRI and LUMINAH 2030, broader structural reforms are beginning to reshape how education prepares young Nigerians for the future.

Education reform is rarely immediate. Its dividends appear gradually, measured in improved learning outcomes, stronger institutions, and a more capable workforce. But by addressing finance, stability, and quality simultaneously, the President Tinubu administration has begun to lay the groundwork for a more resilient education system—one capable of supporting Nigeria’s long-term ambition to build a knowledge-driven economy.

– Elder James Oghogho is an educationist