Education key to achieving Tinubu’s $1trn economy target by 2030 — Alausa
By Uji A Iliyasu, Abuja
The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, says education remains central to President Bola Tinubu’s ambition of building a one trillion-dollar economy, citing sustained investment in human capital, skills acquisition and tertiary reforms as the foundation for long-term prosperity.
Speaking at the weekend, Dr Alausa said the administration was repositioning the education sector to produce a globally competitive workforce capable of meeting domestic needs while supplying skilled professionals to Africa and beyond.
“We want to be the manpower supplier of the world,” he said.
He cited the expansion of health-related admissions as a key intervention, disclosing that annual nursing enrolment had risen from about 20,000 to roughly 50,000, alongside significant increases in medicine, pharmacy and dentistry admissions, which he said would help close the healthcare workforce gap within a few years.
The Minister also defended the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as built on a sustainable financing model, noting that President Tinubu had directed that reforms be designed to outlast the current administration.
“There is no value in introducing policies that cannot stand the test of time,” he said.
On industrial relations, Dr Alausa credited the President’s dialogue-based approach for restoring trust with academic and non-academic unions, noting that government paid 50 per cent of withheld salaries inherited from earlier disputes within months of taking office and approved a nearly 40 per cent salary increase for tertiary institution workers.
He said the resulting stability was already yielding results, pointing to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, where the number of globally ranked Nigerian universities rose from 21 to 24, with public universities reclaiming top national positions for the first time in years.
Dr Alausa reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to reforms expanding access to quality education under the Renewed Hope Agenda, describing education as the foundation for sustainable growth and shared prosperity.