FG says 1.2m out-of-school children back in class, ₦66bn spent on skills training
- Education Minister Tunji Alausa says 1.2 million out-of-school children have returned to classrooms in two years.
- He says about ₦66 billion has gone into technical and vocational training, with students getting ₦30,000 monthly stipends.
- President Tinubu puts NELFUND student loans at over ₦372 billion and says 38 technical colleges have been rehabilitated.
The federal government says it has brought 1.2 million out-of-school children back into classrooms over the past two years, and has spent about ₦66 billion on technical and vocational training.
Education Minister Tunji Alausa gave the figures on Channels TV's Politics Today programme. He said the children were enrolled with their parents' consent, and that school feeding and other support were used to bring them in and keep them there.
President Bola Tinubu also spoke about the education reforms, saying more than one million children had returned to school. He said a child's background should not limit their ambition.
Skills training and student loans
According to Alausa, the government is training 250,000 Nigerians in over 1,200 centres nationwide. The first group of about 36,000 has graduated, and he said half of them are already employed. Technical students receive ₦30,000 a month as stipends, he added.
On student loans, the minister said about ₦379 billion has been put into the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). He said students can apply and get a response within two minutes, with ₦192 billion paid directly to students and about ₦180 billion covering fees.
Tinubu put NELFUND's total support at over ₦372 billion for fees and upkeep. The two figures differ slightly, but both describe the same loan scheme.
The President said the technical and vocational programme has drawn over 2.8 million applications, and that 38 technical colleges have been rehabilitated. Students in federal and some state technical colleges now get free fees, boarding, textbooks and uniforms, he said.
On universities, Tinubu said a new agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) provides a 40 per cent rise in academic staff pay. He said a four-year course must take four years, and that ₦110 billion is going into fixing 24 medical schools.
He also said yearly nursing enrolment has risen from 28,000 to 115,000, while medical and dental enrolment grew from 5,000 to 12,000. Alausa said nearly 50,000 teachers are being supported to upgrade their skills.
For parents, the message is that more children are in class and more students can borrow for school. The government has asked Nigerians to visit edu4pbat.ng to see the full list of education programmes and to report problems in their communities.
