The Federal Government has launched a zero-rated education access initiative to remove data costs from approved educational platforms and content for millions of learners in senior secondary schools and tertiary institutions.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa who announced the initiative on Thursday, said the intervention was designed to ensure that poverty, geography and the cost of internet connectivity no longer determine access to quality education.
Speaking at the launch of the Initiative for Zero-Rated Access to Educational Platforms and Content in Nigeria, Alausa said the intervention was part of the Federal Government’s broader digital transformation of the education sector under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
According to him, a mobile phone, tablet or computer could become a classroom, library and gateway to opportunity when the cost of data was removed, particularly for learners from low-income households and communities with limited access to conventional educational infrastructure.
The minister said the initiative formed part of the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), which places data and digitalisation at the centre of efforts to transform education delivery in the country.
He said the Federal Ministry of Education was already strengthening education planning and management through the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure, Digital Nigeria Education Management Information System and Learner Identification Number.
Alausa, however, said the success of digital transformation should ultimately be measured by its impact on learners and the quality of education they receive.
He said connectivity was increasingly becoming as essential to education as classrooms, textbooks and laboratories, stressing the need for sustained collaboration among government, telecommunications operators, technology companies, educational institutions and other stakeholders.
The minister also disclosed plans for regulated internet access for children below the age of 16 as part of measures to strengthen the protection of Nigerian children in the digital environment.
According to him, the wellbeing and dignity of children must remain central to Nigeria’s digital education drive, given growing threats including cyberattacks and other forms of online harm.
He said, “at some point, there would be regulated internet access for every child below the age of 16 years” as part of efforts to strengthen online child protection.
Beyond providing access, the minister said Nigeria must use digital education to develop young people who could create technology, innovate, solve problems and compete globally, rather than merely consume technology.
He called for closer cooperation among the Ministry, state governments, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), telecommunications operators, technology companies, development partners, educational institutions and teachers to make digital education accessible, safe and relevant.
The Chairman, House Committee on Communications, Hon. Peter Akpatason, commended the NCC for the initiative, describing the high cost of data as one of the major barriers to learning in the digital age.
Akpatason reaffirmed the commitment of the House of Representatives to policies and legislative measures that would leverage technology to bridge the education gap, particularly for learners in underserved and hard-to-reach communities.
Also speaking, Chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Senator Mohammed Muntari Dandutse, stressed the need to ensure that no Nigerian child was left behind in accessing knowledge and educational opportunities.
Dandutse commended the telecommunications industry for its contributions, including corporate social responsibility initiatives supporting children and expanding access to learning.
He said access to knowledge remained fundamental to Nigeria’s development and progress.
