By George Omagbemi
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has recounted how he drove a taxi and took up other menial jobs in the United States to raise money for his university education.
Tinubu shared the experience on Wednesday in a post on his official X account while outlining his administration’s education initiatives.
He said he postponed starting school for several months after arriving in the United States to save enough money before eventually moving to Chicago, where he worked different jobs to support himself and pay his tuition and accommodation expenses.
“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 wrote.
The President said his personal experience of struggling to finance his education had shaped his belief that every Nigerian child should have access to educational opportunities, regardless of family background or financial circumstances.
Highlighting his administration’s efforts, Tinubu said the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) had provided more than ₦372 billion in student loans for institutional fees and upkeep.
He also disclosed that the government’s technical and vocational education programme had attracted over 2.8 million applications, while 38 technical colleges had been rehabilitated.
On university education, he said a new agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) provides for a 40 per cent increase in academic staff remuneration and measures to improve stability in the university system.
Tinubu further said the Federal Government was investing ₦110 billion in the rehabilitation of 24 medical schools.
He maintained that education remained central to his administration’s development agenda, stressing that a child’s circumstances at birth should not determine the limits of their ambition.
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