Vice President Kashim Shettima has declared that the Tinubu administration’s expanded investment in the education sector, reflected in the N3.5 trillion allocation in the 2025 Budget, signals a renewed national commitment to anchoring Nigeria’s development on knowledge, innovation, and human capital.

Speaking on Saturday in Maiduguri at the 50th anniversary celebration of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Shettima said Nigeria cannot effectively compete in the global economy if its universities remain underfunded, noting that education now stands at the heart of President Bola Tinubu’s development and security agenda.

“Today, there is a shared national understanding that education is the most reliable vehicle to development. It fuels economic mobility, lifts families out of poverty, strengthens social cohesion, deepens democratic culture, and fortifies national security,” he said.

According to him, the government’s educational reforms are intentional and future-focused. “We do not come to pay lip service to education. We recognise that the soul of national development lies in what our citizens know, what they can imagine, and what they can create,” he said, adding that budget commitments have been aligned with broader national goals.

Shettima disclosed that the N3.5 trillion education budget, representing 7.3 per cent of total expenditure, comes with targeted interventions. Universities are receiving support to develop mechanised farming programmes for the first time in years, while new grants are being rolled out to strengthen medical education.

Entrepreneurship initiatives, he added, are being expanded to equip students with skills for a modern, technology-driven economy.

“We are preparing our young people for a knowledge-driven world, not with the tools of yesterday, but with the skills of tomorrow,” he stated.

The Vice President acknowledged that longstanding challenges persist, including decades of underfunding, brain drain, outdated curricula, inadequate research capacity and frequent strikes.

But he said the Tinubu administration is responding with digital transformation initiatives, national education databases, curriculum reforms, and a shift toward practical, skills-based learning.

Highlighting the devastating impact of insurgency on education in the North-East, Shettima recalled that more than 500 schools were attacked in Borno State between 2009 and 2021.

Yet, he said, the state has shown remarkable resilience, with 877,777 learners currently enrolled in public schools and over N69.81 billion committed to the sector.

The state has also paid WAEC fees for over 26,000 students, while daily school feeding now costs about N122 million.

“When terrorists attacked our schools, they were trying to kill the future. But Borno chose hope over fear and education over darkness,” he said.

Shettima described President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda as one that places education at the centre of economic transformation, job creation, poverty reduction and nation-building.

Tracing UNIMAID’s origins to the Third National Development Plan (1975-1980), he said the institution stands as a symbol of resilience and a beacon of learning despite years of conflict.

“This university stands today not as a victim of the storms it endured, but as a lighthouse in the Sahel,” he said.

Earlier, Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, commended the university’s contributions to the state’s human capital development and announced scholarships for 200 lecturers to pursue further studies.

Adamawa Governor, Umaru Fintiri, announced a N1.8 billion contribution on behalf of North-East states to the university’s endowment fund, while Vice Chancellor Prof.

Mohammed Mele called for deeper private-sector partnerships to sustain UNIMAID’s achievements.

Other dignitaries at the event included former Vice President Babagana Kingibe; Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad; businessmen Muhammadu Indimi and Sir Emeka Offor; Pro-Chancellor and Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage; members of the National Assembly from Borno; and the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi.