WorldStage— Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has recounted his early struggles as a young student in the United States, sharing how he drove a taxi and took on various menial jobs to fund his higher education.
Tinubu made the revelations in a statement published on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle, reflecting on the financial hardships he faced upon moving to North America.
According to the Nigerian leader, he had to postpone the start of his studies for several months to save enough money before eventually settling in Chicago.
“When I first arrived in the United States as a young man, I drove a taxi to earn money for my education,” Tinubu stated.
He noted that once he arrived in Chicago, he worked multiple jobs—including serving as a door guard and security man—to manage tuition and living expenses.
Recalling past accounts of his time abroad, Tinubu previously shared how he operated an unregistered “gypsy” cab from airports and once endured being slapped by an unsatisfied military passenger who felt overcharged due to a lack of GPS navigation at the time.
The president used the narrative to frame his administration’s focus on educational reforms, asserting that his personal background drives his empathy for struggling students.
He emphasized that a child’s background or a family’s financial status should never dictate the boundaries of their potential.
Highlighting current government interventions, Tinubu pointed to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), which has disbursed over ₦372 billion in student loans for institutional fees and upkeep.
He also noted that technical and vocational education programs have drawn more than 2.8 million applications, alongside ongoing investments in medical schools and a recent agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to boost academic staff remuneration by 40 per cent.
