Nigeria and Italy have strengthened collaboration on the proposed Global Partnership for Education (GPE) financing campaign aimed at mobilising $5 billion to support education financing across the world.
The development came as President Bola Tinubu said the GPE initiative was aligned with his administration’s agenda of improving educational outcomes through increased access to education and investment in teacher capacity building.
Tinubu spoke on Wednesday in New York, United States, in a video message to the “Multiply Possibility” high-level event, themed, “A New Era for Education Financing,” held on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
According to a statement by the President’s spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, Tinubu commended stakeholders in the Global Partnership for Education for their efforts to accelerate education financing globally.
Representing the President at the event, Vice President Kashim Shettima described education as an investment in Nigeria’s economic future, productivity, prosperity and stability, rather than an expenditure on 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,” Shettima said.
He said since Tinubu assumed office in 2023, the administration had 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.
“Through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, we are widening access to higher education, while strengthening the link between education, skills, employment and enterprise,” he added.
Shettima said the Federal Government was also exploring additional lawful sources of funding for education beyond traditional budgetary allocations.
He noted that Tinubu had directed that 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 added that the Federal Executive Council had recently approved consideration of unclaimed dividends and dormant funds for the same purpose, subject to relevant legal requirements.
According to him, the measures reflected Nigeria’s commitment to mobilising every responsible and lawful domestic source of funding for education.
Shettima also highlighted Nigeria’s partnerships with the World Bank and GPE through the HOPE-EDU programme, saying the initiative demonstrated the impact international partnerships could have on the country’s education sector.
“The programme is expected to reach approximately 29 million children and 500,000 teachers across Nigeria,” he said.
He said the proposed $5 billion GPE financing campaign would complement rather than replace domestic education investments.
“This is precisely why GPE matters. GPE does not replace national investment; it multiplies it. The ambition before us is to mobilise US$5 billion for GPE and, through that investment, unlock additional financing for education in partner countries,” Shettima said.
He stressed that domestic resources should remain the anchor of education financing, complemented by development assistance, concessional finance, philanthropy and innovative financing.
The Vice President said Nigeria’s youthful population could become one of the country’s greatest economic assets if young people had access to quality education, relevant skills and meaningful opportunities.
He also called for “smarter multilateralism” in response to declining global aid, arguing that scarce international resources should be used to leverage significantly larger investments in education.
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