Federal Government has announced plans to waive data charges for millions of students accessing approved educational platforms as part of efforts to expand digital learning across Nigeria.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the initiative during the launch of the Initiative for Zero-Rated Access to Educational Platforms and Content in Nigeria.
Alausa said the intervention, introduced under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, is aimed at ensuring that the cost of internet connectivity does not prevent Nigerian students from accessing quality educational content.
According to the minister, the initiative will benefit learners in senior secondary schools and tertiary institutions who use approved digital education platforms.
He said the programme would help address inequalities caused by poverty, geography and limited access to conventional educational infrastructure.
Alausa explained that with affordable connectivity, mobile phones, tablets and computers could serve as classrooms, libraries and gateways to educational opportunities, particularly for students from low-income families and underserved communities.
The minister said the initiative forms part of the Federal Government’s broader efforts to transform the education sector through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), which places digitalisation and data at the centre of education reform.
He noted that the Ministry of Education is also strengthening education planning and management through the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure, Digital Nigeria Education Management Information System and Learner Identification Number.
However, Alausa stressed that the success of digital transformation would ultimately depend on its ability to reach students and improve learning outcomes.
He also announced plans for regulated internet access for children below the age of 16, saying the measure would form part of efforts to protect young Nigerians from cyberattacks and other dangers in the digital environment.
The minister described telecommunications connectivity as increasingly essential to education, alongside classrooms, textbooks and laboratories.
He called for stronger collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Education, state governments, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), telecommunications operators, technology companies, development partners, educational institutions and teachers.
Alausa said such collaboration was necessary to ensure that digital education remained accessible, safe and relevant to Nigerian learners.
He added that Nigeria must move beyond producing young people who merely consume technology and instead equip them with the skills to create technological solutions, innovate and compete globally.
Speaking at the event, Chairman of the House Committee on Communications, Peter Akpatason, commended the NCC for the initiative.
Akpatason described the high cost of data as one of the major obstacles to digital learning and reaffirmed the commitment of the House of Representatives to policies aimed at using technology to reduce the education gap.
He particularly stressed the importance of extending digital learning opportunities to students in underserved and hard-to-reach communities.
Similarly, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Mohammed Muntari Dandutse, said efforts must be intensified to ensure that no Nigerian child is excluded from access to knowledge and educational opportunities.
Dandutse also commended the telecommunications sector for supporting education through various corporate social responsibility initiatives designed to improve access to learning.
Alausa assured Nigerians that the Ministry of Education would continue to work with the NCC, state governments, telecommunications companies, educational institutions, development partners and other stakeholders to ensure the initiative delivers sustainable benefits to learners across the country
