FG’s N180bn student data plan faces network, sustainability risks

… experts seek targeted access, infrastructure, funding, monitoring as government rolls out 100MB daily allocation

The Federal Government’s plan to provide five million students with 100 megabytes (MB) of free mobile data daily is facing concerns over network capacity, the adequacy of the allocation, funding, monitoring, and whether the intervention can deliver meaningful educational outcomes.

The initiative, scheduled to commence on October 1, 2026, will provide students in public senior secondary schools and tertiary institutions with zero-rated access to approved educational websites and digital learning platforms.

The programme, being implemented by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and the Federal Ministry of Education, is estimated to cost about N15 billion monthly, or N180 billion annually, based on an estimated N100 daily allocation per beneficiary.

While experts welcomed the intervention as a potentially important step toward reducing the cost of digital learning, they said its effectiveness would depend largely on how access is controlled, the capacity of telecommunications networks, the accuracy of student records, funding arrangements and the government’s ability to monitor usage.

Olujimi Dada, chairperson of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), LAUTECH chapter, said the data allocation should be specifically targeted at educational content to prevent students from diverting the benefit to social media and other non-academic activities.

“If the government is going to do such a thing, it should be streamlined so that there is a way of doing it,” Dada said.

He suggested that the government establish or partner with repositories containing course materials and other approved educational resources, with the free data configured to work only on such platforms.

According to him, restricting the allocation to approved educational websites would make the intervention more meaningful and ensure that public funds allocated to the programme achieve their intended purpose.

“People should be able to do TikTok and Snapchat and whatever, but if there is a way they can streamline the usage, that could be my contribution to the topic,” he said.

Dada also questioned whether 100MB would be sufficient for students who need to download assignments and other learning materials, noting that the government should consider how the allowance would work in practice.

The concerns come as the government and telecommunications operators seek to balance the scale of the intervention with the capacity of mobile networks to accommodate additional traffic.

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Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of ALTON, said the 100MB daily threshold was arrived at after an industry assessment of the number of potential beneficiaries, network capacity and the need to prevent the intervention from affecting commercial services.

He said an industry working committee was constituted to assess the feasibility of the programme, including the number of beneficiaries and the amount of data that could be sustainably provided.

According to him, the industry could provide a higher allocation, but existing network capacity would make a much larger daily allowance difficult to sustain without affecting service quality.

Adebayo said the 100MB allocation translates to about 3GB per month and should be sufficient for the intended educational activities, which he said generally consume less data than video streaming, gaming and other entertainment services.

“From analysis, this will do about an average of two to one and a half hours of learning a day,” he said.

He explained that the programme is not designed to support full qualification courses but to assist students with activities such as reviewing assignments and searching for additional educational information.

Adebayo also said the free data would be restricted to approved educational websites, meaning beneficiaries would not be able to use the allocation for streaming, gaming or unrelated online activities.

The NCC said the commission and the Ministry of Education would jointly approve platforms to be whitelisted under the initiative.

Ayuba Shuaibu, director of policy, competition and economic analysis at the NCC, said eligible platforms would include learning management systems, digital libraries, educational repositories, teacher development platforms, and technical and vocational training platforms.

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“The framework also adopts the operator’s consult model for the initial rollout of the initiative. Under this model, a daily zero-rated data allowance of 100 MB will be provided by the participating MNOs for usage on approved websites and platforms,” Shuaibu said.

Tunji Alausa, minister of education, had said the initiative was designed to address the cost of internet access, which remains a barrier to digital learning, particularly for students from low-income households.

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

The scheme will initially cover students in public senior secondary schools and public tertiary institutions, with plans to extend the intervention to other categories of learners.

Adesina Sodiya, professor of computer science and immediate past president of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS), described the initiative as good and commendable but warned that the 100MB daily allocation could be too small to have a meaningful impact on students’ academic activities.

He also raised concerns that increased data consumption could put additional pressure on telecommunications infrastructure, particularly in areas with large concentrations of students.

“I would also advise that instead of doing it monthly, I mean, it is better to put all these things together and do it monthly, so that the students can plan and utilize this data for something that is meaningful to their programme,” Sodiya said.

According to him, a monthly allocation would give students greater flexibility to determine how and when to deploy the data, rather than being compelled to use a relatively small daily allowance.

“100 megs in a day is actually nothing. By the time they open the document and so on and so forth, it’s gone,” he said.

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Sodiya said students often have to make difficult choices about internet usage because of the cost of data, with some unable to access academic materials or participate in online activities when they run out of data.

“Sometimes I will send messages to them. They will tell you that I didn’t have data to read the details. They buy data when they need to do something,” he said.

He noted that access to affordable data had become particularly important as universities and students increasingly rely on digital resources and online learning.

“Access to data for students in tertiary institutions is actually a good thing,” Sodiya said, adding that some universities already provide internet access within their campuses, although students still face difficulties when they leave campus.

He therefore described the proposed government intervention as commendable, saying it could help bridge part of the digital access gap confronting students.

“It is actually supported. Although it is small, I mean, it is a good way to start with,” he said.

Sodiya, however, warned that the intervention could add pressure to an already strained telecommunications infrastructure, particularly in student-dominated areas.