FG Announces Daily 100MB Free Data for Students From October 1


 

By Abel Chigozie 


The Federal Government has announced that Nigerian students will receive 100MB of free data daily from October 1, 2026, to access approved educational websites and digital learning platforms.


Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja during the launch of the Initiative for Zero-Rated Access to Educational Platforms and Content in Nigeria. 


The programme, coordinated by the Nigerian Communications Commission in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education and telecommunications operators, will initially cover students in public senior secondary schools and tertiary institutions.


Under the initiative, students will be able to use the daily 100MB allocation to access approved learning management systems, digital libraries, educational repositories, teacher-development platforms and technical and vocational education resources without paying for the data used on those platforms. 


Alausa said the initiative was designed to address the affordability barrier that prevents many students, particularly those from low-income households, from accessing digital educational resources.


He said the government’s ambition was to ensure that no Nigerian learner was denied access to quality educational content because of an inability to afford internet data.


The minister added that the programme would be expanded to other categories of learners after its initial rollout.


The NCC Director of Policy, Competition and Economic Analysis, Ayuba Shuaibu, said the commission and the Ministry of Education would jointly determine which platforms would qualify for the zero-rated access.


Participating operators, including MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria and Globacom, are supporting the initiative by providing the free daily data allowance. 


The government said the initiative forms part of its broader digital transformation agenda for the education sector, alongside the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure, Digital Nigeria Education Management Information System and Learner Identification Number.


Alausa also disclosed that more than 240,000 schools had been geo-mapped and geolocated as part of efforts to improve education-sector planning and data management. 


According to the minister, the 100MB daily allocation for about five million students represents an estimated ₦180bn in data value annually. 


The initiative is scheduled to commence nationwide on October 1, 2026

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