The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced that Nigerian students will begin receiving 100 megabytes (MB) of free daily data from October 1, 2026, to access approved educational websites and digital learning platforms.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, made the announcement on Thursday during the official launch of the Initiative for Zero-Rated Access to Educational Platforms and Content in Nigeria, held in Abuja and organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
“Let me let out the secret. This will be made available to Nigerian students from October 1st, 2026,” Dr. Alausa said, while acknowledging the contribution of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) to the programme.
The Federal Ministry of Education and the NCC will jointly approve and whitelist eligible platforms. These will include learning management systems, digital libraries, educational repositories, teacher development platforms, and technical and vocational training platforms.
Dr. Alausa described the initiative as a major intervention under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. He emphasised that it aims to remove one of the most significant barriers to digital learning, the cost of internet data particularly for students in underserved communities and low-income families.
“By enabling learners to access approved educational platforms and content without bearing the cost of data, we are removing one of the most significant barriers to digital learning in Nigeria,” the Minister stated. “The ultimate goal is to ensure that poverty and geography do not prevent Nigerian children from accessing quality education.”
The NCC Director of Policy, Competition and Economic Analysis, Ayuba Shuaibu, confirmed that the Ministry of Education and the Commission will jointly determine the educational platforms to be covered under the zero-rating arrangement.
The Federal Government estimates that the 100MB daily allocation for five million students will amount to about 15 billion megabytes of data monthly, representing an estimated ₦180 billion in data value annually.