First Lady champions tech access for students at UNICROSS
By Uji A. Iliyasu, Abuja
First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu has commissioned a N1billion Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Digital Experience Centre at the University of Cross River State (UNICROSS), giving students free access to laptops, desktops and other digital resources.
Commissioning the facility on Friday at the university’s main campus, Senator Tinubu, said the centre would give students uninterrupted opportunities to learn, create and build digital skills without the barriers of device ownership and unstable electricity.
The facility was delivered through the Renewed Hope Initiative in partnership with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and is designed primarily to benefit economically disadvantaged students who cannot afford digital devices.
Senator Tinubu said the project forms part of a nationwide rollout spanning tertiary institutions across the country’s geopolitical zones in its pilot phase.
Beneficiary institutions include Ekiti State University, Federal Polytechnic Oko in Anambra State, Kaduna State University, Kwara State University, UNICROSS and Taraba State University, among others.
Cross River State governor, Senator Bassey Otu, commended the initiative, describing it as a significant investment in students’ digital empowerment and in advancing education in the state. He said the centre would help bridge the digital divide among students while equipping young people with skills needed to compete in an increasingly technology-driven global economy.
Chairman of the TETFund Board of Trustees, Rt. Hon. Aminu Masari, said UNICROSS was among six institutions selected nationwide as pioneer beneficiaries of the intervention under the Fund’s 2024 activities, with one centre approved for each of the six geopolitical zones at a cost of N1 billion per zone. UNICROSS is hosting the South South zone’s centre.
Masari said the centre was designed to equip students and lecturers with critical digital skills in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics and software development, while exposing them to emerging technologies relevant to agriculture, healthcare, security, media and mining.
He added that the intervention was aimed at enhancing graduate employability, fostering innovation and preparing Nigerian youths for the global technology-driven economy.
TETFund Executive Secretary, Sonny Echono, said the project reflected the Fund’s commitment to strengthening digital infrastructure in tertiary institutions and expanding access to technology-driven learning.
He commended the First Lady’s role in supporting youth empowerment initiatives and praised UNICROSS management for its cooperation in delivering the project, urging the institution to ensure the facility was properly maintained, secured and regularly upgraded.
Echono said TETFund would continue supporting impactful digital-capacity interventions, stressing that the centres were not merely infrastructure projects but platforms for creating opportunities and advancing Nigeria’s vision of a knowledge-based, technologically empowered economy.
He noted that the facility would create an enabling environment for research, learning and skills development, and would particularly benefit students without personal digital devices, helping to reduce inequality in access to education and technology.