The Read and Earn Federation for UNESCO (UNESCO REF) and UNICAF have launched a strategic partnership aimed at expanding Nigerian students’ access to internationally accredited higher education through an 86 per cent tuition scholarship scheme.

The initiative, under the Educational Financial Facility Scheme (EFFS), will provide qualifying Nigerians with scholarships covering 86 per cent of their tuition fees for undergraduate, masters and doctoral degree programmes, leaving beneficiaries to pay only 14 per cent.

The partners said the scheme is designed to complement the Federal Government’s Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFund), in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda on human capital development.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of UNICAF, Dr. Nicos Nicolaou, said the partnership aligns with the institution’s commitment to widening access to quality higher education for emerging Nigerian professionals.

He explained that only students admitted through the UNESCO REF EFFS pathway would qualify for the scholarship, stressing that the arrangement offers structured financial support alongside existing national education financing mechanisms.

“Through the Educational Financial Facility Scheme, UNICAF will extend structured scholarship support to qualifying Nigerian students, in respectful complement to the Federal Government’s Nigeria Education Loan Fund and in shared service of the Renewed Hope Agenda,” Nicolaou said.

According to him, the scholarship facility covers internationally accredited degree programmes and is intended to strengthen Nigeria’s human capital development efforts.

President of UNESCO REF, Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, also described the initiative as a structured instrument designed to make globally recognised higher education more accessible to Nigerians.

He further noted that the scheme advances Nigeria’s commitments under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 on equitable access to quality tertiary education and SDG 8 on reducing the number of youths outside education, employment or training.