The Federal Government has declared that no qualified student will be denied access to higher education on grounds of financial hardship, citing over ₦1 trillion in investments across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education under the current administration.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, gave the assurance on Tuesday during a meeting with members of the National Committee for the Advancement of Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech and Language Therapy Education, in a statement released by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Ikharo Attah.

Alausa said President Bola Tinubu had introduced reforms that eliminated financial obstacles previously preventing many young Nigerians from accessing tertiary 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," he said.

The minister outlined specific allocations underpinning the ₦1 trillion commitment. He said ₦250 billion had been committed to constructing new student hostels, while over ₦150 billion was invested in rehabilitating existing hostels, classrooms, engineering workshops and academic facilities. More than ₦130 billion had gone into rehabilitating medical schools and expanding their training capacity, with ₦52 billion approved for modern equipment across 18 medical schools and nearly ₦30 billion invested in establishing 11 medical simulation laboratories.

To strengthen engineering education, Alausa disclosed that almost ₦110 billion had been invested in constructing and rehabilitating engineering workshops and procuring modern equipment for federal universities of technology, conventional universities and polytechnics.

At the same meeting, the Chairman of the National Committee, Dr Victoria Omua Amu, briefed the minister on the committee's progress, noting that six Nigerian universities currently offer Audiology programmes, five offer Occupational Therapy programmes and three offer Speech and Language Therapy programmes. She added that the University of Benin would commence an Occupational Therapy programme in the 2026/2027 academic session, while identifying delays in TETFund support releases as a key implementation challenge.