What support will you provide for low-income students facing tuition, accommodation, and living costs at private universities?
On support for students at universities like AUN, I built that university so cost would not be the barrier it so often is. I did not set it up to make a profit. My aim was to create Africa's first development university, one that adds to the body of knowledge driving Nigeria and Africa forward. Compared to other private universities in its class in Nigeria, AUN is probably the most affordable. Beyond that, my administration will provide non-repayable scholarships, grants, and bursaries instead of forcing students into debt, forgive existing student loan obligations, and directly reduce university tuition costs for low-income families. I believe education should not begin with a mountain of debt hanging over a young Nigerian's future, and my approach will work to reduce the underlying cost of education itself, not just lend money to cover rising fees.
On students who have tuition covered but struggle with accommodation, meals, and other living costs, I have not set out a specific support for that. What I can tell you is the broader principle guiding my approach: a student loan is not a scholarship, it is a liability, and the real test of any education policy is whether ordinary families can educate their children without being pushed into debt just to keep them in school. That is why I am committed to non-repayable scholarships, grants, and bursaries, and to directly reducing the cost of education, rather than treating loans as the answer to rising costs.
Where this comes from
p. 1 PhD Honoris Causa, Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun Atiku Abubakar: Official biography 2026-10-02 ›
Atiku Abubakar is particularly passionate about education. He established a Professorial Chair at the Oxford University, U.K, to promote scholarship in African History. His most significant investment in education has been the American University of Nigeria in the northeast Nigeria town of Yola. With the help and cooperation of American University in Washington, DC, the American University of Nigeria in Yola was set up. The AUN has arisen in only thirteeen years from the empty fields of rural Nigeria to become an institution of 1500 students with a faculty from 40 countries, a focus on sustainable development as Africa's first "Development University," and most recently the winner of an award from the American Library Association for its pioneering work in the development of one of the world's most sophisticated e-libraries. It is the only American-style University south of the Sahara and is already recognized as one of the leading universities of West Africa.
p. 1 PhD Honoris Causa, Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun Atiku Abubakar: Official biography 2026-10-02 ›
Atiku personally provides 60 percent subsidy by his own direct intervention to students of the AUN. This affords both the children of the rich and the children of the poor access to world-class education. Specially gifted children, regardless of their parental backgrounds are also afforded the opportunity to better their future through this first-class university. Even the vulnerable, among them the Chibok girls who escaped Boko Haram captivity, have found accommodation in the academy operated by AUN.
To help foster unity, tolerance and peaceful coexistence in northeast Nigeria, the Adamawa Peace Initiative (API) was set up at his prompting by the American University of Nigeria (AUN). The API is vehicle for promoting and maintaining peace in Adamawa State and indeed the North East region of Nigeria. Today, the API initiative is getting more than cursory look as a viable model for dealing with strife in multi-religious communities.
p. 5 Introduction Atiku Abubakar: Answers to questions from the public 2026-10-02 ›
Q30: Many intelligent students cannot afford university or even remain in school because their families are poor. What financial support will your government provide? Answer: My administration will provide non-repayable scholarships, grants, and bursaries instead of forcing students into debt, while forgiving existing student loan obligations and directly reducing university tuition costs for low-income families.
Post on X Post by @atiku on X · https://x.com/atiku/status/1978860472603378018 2025-10-16 ›
This afternoon, I received a distinguished delegation from the University of Jos, led by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Tanko Ishaya.
The visit was a follow-up to seek partnership ahead of the forthcoming 27th edition of the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), holding at UJ, Jos, Plateau State.
The VC together with a team of consultants firming up arrangements for the games, explained to me why hosting the games on the Plateau is important, especially at a time multi-pronged efforts are being made to resolve conflicts in the state, enhance economic prosperity and youth development.
This partnership, they seek, is in areas of my passion—education and youth development through sports.
As founder of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), I can relate to the importance of sports as a key tool in peace building and youth development.
I am happy they found me worthy of this partnership to the extent of decorating me as one of the Patrons of Jos 2025 NUGA and assured them of my support. -AA
Article on X Article by @atiku on X · https://x.com/atiku/status/2094810791937446399 2026-09-01 ›
It is fundamentally different from allowing living costs to explode, watching Nigerians struggle with hunger and unaffordable healthcare, and then arriving close to an election with another round of emergency handouts.
And, Bola, your attempt to use NELFUND as a shield against Atiku’s cost-of-living proposal is even more dishonest. You now want Nigerians to believe that making fuel cheaper will somehow threaten student loans, workers’ salaries and the minimum wage. That is fearmongering dressed up as economics.
Celebrating NELFUND as proof that education has become affordable under your government is like setting school fees on fire and then boasting that you lent students a bucket of water. What exactly is the wisdom in presiding over dramatic increases in school fees in some institutions, only to turn around and celebrate loans as the solution?
You make education more expensive, lend students money to survive the increase, and then demand applause for the rescue. That is not affordability. It is witchcraft economics: create the burden with one hand, offer debt with the other, and demand applause for the intervention.
Article on X Article by @atiku on X · https://x.com/atiku/status/2094810791937446399 2026-09-01 ›
The good news for Nigerian students is that Atiku has reviewed the current student-loan policy and believes education should not begin with a mountain of debt hanging over a young Nigerian’s future. His approach will reduce the underlying cost of education and, after review, provide forgiveness for qualifying student debts so that young Nigerians can graduate with hope rather than repayment burdens. Education should open doors, not mortgage the future.
A student loan is not a scholarship. It is a liability. The proper test of an education policy is whether ordinary families can educate their children without being pushed into debt merely to keep them in school. When students increasingly require loans because the underlying cost of education has become prohibitive, government should not parade the loan itself as evidence that the system is working.
And your attempt to frighten students and workers by claiming that Atiku’s targeted and capped production support will somehow destroy NELFUND, reduce salaries or reverse the minimum wage is a fallacious claim without a ledger behind it. If your government has the arithmetic, Bola, publish it. Show Nigerians, line by line, how a transparently budgeted subsidy tied to Nigerian crude and domestic refining suddenly empties NELFUND or workers’ pay packets.
Article on X Article by @atiku on X · https://x.com/atiku/status/2105647953729769974 2026-10-01 ›
You speak of young Nigerians building unicorns. I see their talent wherever I go. I see young people learning new skills, making things and looking for a chance to serve their country. They first need work that pays enough to get them through the month. Ambition is abundant in Nigeria. What is scarce is the chance to turn it into a living.
And please do not describe every new loan as an opportunity. A student loan does not make education affordable when fees are rising. Under your watch, some institutions have raised fees by more than 400 per cent, and your answer is to offer students loans to pay them. Consumer credit does not make a worker prosperous if repayment takes another bite out of a wage already too small to live on. Tell Nigerians what these programmes have delivered, who has benefited and what they must pay back.
The confusion extends to your budgets. You have just signed an extension keeping the 2025 budget in operation until the last day of 2026. The 2026 budget exists alongside it. Soon, your government will ask Nigerians to examine a 2027 budget. How many budgets must be open at once before you can tell the country what was funded, what was completed and what remains unpaid? A budget should be a timetable for delivery, not a ball passed from one year to the next.
p. 18 1.11. URBAN DEVELOPMENT & HOUSING Party Manifesto 2027-2031 2026-10-05 ›
2. Support state and local government-led low-cost housing schemes. We will empower states and local councils to directly provide affordable rental housing for low- and middle-income Nigerians. ● Encourage states and local governments to develop low-cost council housing for workers, young people, and vulnerable groups ● Provide technical and financial support frameworks to ensure sustainability and proper maintenance of public housing
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p. 1 CANDIDATE-APPROVED ANSWER Candidate-approved answer 2026-10-11 ›
I founded the American University of Nigeria, not for the purpose of generating profit but to create the first-ever development university in Africa. I am proud to say that the university has lived up to that expectation and still breaking new grounds in the areas of research and innovations. My priority about setting up a private university is to add value to the body of intellectual assets that would drive the development of Nigeria and put Africa on the global map of innovations. Compared to other private universities in its class in Nigeria, the AUN is probably the most affordable.