The federal government on Thursday announced a N180 billion annual zero-rated data initiative to provide five million students across Nigeria with free daily internet access to approved digital learning platforms starting October 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Education Minister Tunji announced this in Abuja during the official launch of the Zero-Rated Access to Education Platforms and Content initiative. The event was organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and telecommunications operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200eAlausa said that under the scheme, students would receive 100 megabytes of sponsored data daily at N100 per user, amounting to N15 billion monthly and N180 billion annually in zero-rated educational access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200e\u200e\u201cZero-rated access has the potential to transform a mobile phone, tablet, or computer from simply a communication device into a classroom, a library, and a gateway to human capital development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200e\u200e\u201cBy enabling learners to access approved educational platforms without bearing the cost of data, we are removing one of the most significant barriers to digital learning in Nigeria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200eThe minister urged international development partners, including UNESCO, to recognise the N180 billion sponsored data commitment as an integral addition to President Bola Tinubu\u2019s national education funding allocations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200eAlausa noted that the initiative aligned directly with the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI) and the digitised Nigeria Education Management Information System (D-NEMIS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200eHe stated that the ministry had already geomapped and geolocated over 240,000 schools nationwide while deploying the Learner\u2019s Identification Number (LIN) to track students from primary to tertiary levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200eThe minister added that security agencies would, in the coming weeks, announce regulated internet access parameters for children under 16 to protect underage learners from cyber threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, reaffirmed the government\u2019s commitment to bridging the digital divide in rural communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alausa said that under the scheme, students would receive 100 megabytes of sponsored data daily at N100 per user.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,53],"tags":[72,73],"class_list":["post-623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-education","category-news","tag-alausa","tag-nesri"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625,"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623\/revisions\/625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnewsnaija.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}