Nigeria and Italy have strengthened collaboration to implement the proposed Global Partnership for Education (GPE) financing campaign targeted at mobilising five billion dollars for education financing worldwide.
President Bola Tinubu, in a video message, said the GPE vision aligned with Nigeria’s agenda aimed at improving educational outcomes by investing in access and capacity building for teachers.
Tinubu stated this on Wednesday in New York, United States, during the Multiply Possibility High-level event.
The event tagged “A New Era for Education Financing” was held on the margins of the ongoing 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Also speaking at the event, Vice President Kashim Shettima noted that education was an investment in Nigeria’s economic future, productivity and the prosperity and stability of its citizens.
Shettima stressed that it was not merely an expense at the margins of the country’s development agenda.
“For Nigeria, education is not an expenditure at the margins of our development agenda.
“It is an investment in our economic future, national productivity, and the prosperity and stability of our people.
“Since Tinubu assumed office in 2023, our administration has substantially increased resources devoted to education while pursuing reforms to strengthen basic education financing, expand foundational learning, and improve access to tertiary and technical education,” he said.
Shettima said through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, government had widened access to higher education, and strengthened the link between education, skills, employment and enterprise.
Shettima said Nigeria was also looking beyond traditional budgetary allocations.
He said that Tinubu had directed that liquid funds recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, once legally cleared and free from litigation, be channelled to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.
He said that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently approved consideration of unclaimed dividends and dormant funds for the same purpose, subject to the relevant legal requirements.
This, Shettima explained, demonstrated the nation’s conviction that financing education needed mobilisation of every responsible and lawful domestic source available.
Citing Nigeria’s alliances with the World Bank and GPE through HOPE-EDU, the vice president underscored what international partnership could achieve.
According to him, the programme is expected to reach approximately 29 million children and 500,000 teachers across Nigeria.
“This is precisely why GPE matters. GPE does not replace national investment; it multiplies it.
“‘The ambition before us is to mobilise five billion dollars for GPE and, through that investment, unlock additional financing for education in partner countries.
‘Domestic resources must remain the anchor, complemented by development assistance, concessional finance, philanthropy and innovative financing.”
He urged participants at the high-level event to ensure that it was not merely a fundraising exercise, “but a renewed compact for human capital.
Earlier in a video presentation, the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, praised President Tinubu’s leadership and Nigeria’s determination to improve educational outcomes across all levels.
He urged all partners in the global alliance to show greater commitment to reversing the trend in developing countries.
UN Deputy Secretary General Dr. Amina Mohammed thanked all partners for the interest shown in the improvement of education financing in developing countries.
She noted that the changes sought by stakeholders should begin with the choices that governments made.
Mohammed called on international financial institutions to support committed countries in finding the fiscal spaces needed to improve educational outcomes, including capacity building for teachers.
In the same vein, Chair of the Board of Directors of GPE, Dr Jakaya Kikwete, underscored the need for accelerating education financing.
He noted that the event was a reminder of the fact that education remained central to the attainment of human rights, security, and peace, among other benefits.
He stated that GPE was driven by the realities of the drop in development assistance in education amidst the widening financing gap.
Girls’ education activist Malala Yousafzai emphasized the need for collaboration in ideas and resources.
Yousafzai stated that global partnerships tend to produce greater results and more impactful outcomes than isolated interventions by countries.
She urged all stakeholders, especially multilateral organisations and governments across the world, to commit more resources and efforts to gender equality in education.
themomentng reports that governments and donors at the high-level event made generous contributions toward the education of at least 370 million children globally.
The government of Italy, particularly, pledged the sum of 50 million Euros for GPE programmes and Interventions.
