{
  "id": 7308603,
  "title": "NANS Commends FG, NCC on Free Data for Students",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/nans-commends-fg-ncc-on-free-data-for-students",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-14T11:27:31.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "This Day",
    "slug": "this-day",
    "url": "https://www.thisdaylive.com/2026/09/14/nans-commends-fg-ncc-on-free-data-for-students/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has praised the federal government and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for implementing free data access to online educational platforms for students. NANS President Comrade Babatunde Akinteye made the commendation during the initiative's launch in Abuja. Akinteye explained that this move tackles one of the major obstacles to modern learning, which is the cost of data. He emphasized that education is no longer confined to classrooms, and knowledge is now available online. The NCC's proposal aims to tackle the connectivity bottleneck that prevents millions of Nigerian students from accessing these resources. NANS hailed the policy as the most strategic and impactful intervention in Nigeria's education system in recent years. It noted that rather than distributing physical materials or depending solely on traditional infrastructure, the initiative directly subsidizes access to knowledge through data. The NANS president also highlighted other federal interventions for students under the Tinubu administration, such as uninterrupted academic calendars, the NELFUND student loan scheme, and free tuition with monthly stipends at TVET centers. However, he stressed that the NCC's zero-rated access to educational platforms and digital contents will benefit students across all education levels by enabling them to learn and conduct research online on approved websites and e-libraries without purchasing data. The scheme will commence on October 1, 2026, and will provide each student with 100MB of free data per day. This will benefit about five million students in public senior secondary schools and public tertiary institutions. The free data will only be accessible on approved educational websites, digital libraries, and learning platforms, and will not affect students' regular data balances. NANS expressed gratitude to the federal government, NCC, and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) for their roles in making this initiative a reality.",
  "summary": "The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has commended the federal government and the Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Chief Idris Olorunimbe, for introducing zero-rated access to online",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}