UNGA: Nigeria, Italy rally global support for $5bn education fund

• Nigeria targets 29m children, 500,000 teachers through HOPE-EDU

• Italy pledges €50m to GPE programmes as donors back education for 370m children

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

Nigeria and Italy have joined forces to drive a fresh global financing for education, rallying governments, donors and multilateral institutions behind a proposed $5 billion global partnership for education (GPE) financing campaign.

The campaign, unveiled at an event on the sideline of the ongoing 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81) in New York, is aimed at mobilising resources to expand access to quality education, strengthen educational systems and improve learning outcomes, particularly in developing countries facing widening financing gaps.

The development came as the Nigerian government sought to position education financing as a strategic investment in economic growth rather than a conventional expenditure, with Vice President Kashim Shettima declaring that education was central to Nigeria’s productivity, prosperity and long-term stability.

The event, tagged, “A New Era for Education Financing,” was co-hosted by Nigeria and Italy as part of the ‘multiply possibility’ high-level engagement.

President Bola Tinubu, in a video message to the gathering, said the GPE campaign was consistent with his administration’s education agenda, particularly its focus on expanding access and building the capacity of teachers, while improving educational outcomes.

He commended stakeholders in the GPE for their efforts to accelerate education financing globally, stressing the importance of collective action to address the resources required to transform education systems.

Representing the President at the event, Shettima said Nigeria’s participation was not simply to seek increased foreign assistance but to demonstrate the country’s own commitment to financing education.

“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,” he said.

The Vice President said since Tinubu assumed office in 2023, the administration had substantially increased resources devoted to education while implementing reforms designed to strengthen basic education financing, expand foundational learning and widen access to tertiary and technical education.

He also highlighted the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), saying the initiative was widening access to higher education while strengthening the connection between education, skills, employment and enterprise.

According to him, the Federal Government was also exploring lawful domestic sources beyond conventional budgetary allocations to sustain education financing.

He said Tinubu had directed that liquid funds recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), once legally cleared and free from litigation, should be channelled to NELFUND.

The Vice President added that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had recently approved the consideration of unclaimed dividends and dormant funds for the same purpose, subject to relevant legal requirements.

He said the measures reflected Nigeria’s conviction that financing education required the mobilisation of “every responsible and lawful domestic source available.”

Shettima also pointed to Nigeria’s partnership with the World Bank and GPE through the HOPE-EDU programme, which he said was expected to reach approximately 29 million children and 500,000 teachers across the country.

“This is precisely why GPE matters. GPE does not replace national investment; it multiplies it,” he said.

He said the ambition of the campaign was to mobilise $5 billion for GPE and use the funding to 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 added.

Shettima argued that Nigeria’s youthful population could become one of the country’s greatest economic assets if young people were equipped with quality education, relevant skills and meaningful opportunities.

He, therefore, called for a new approach to global education financing amid declining development assistance.

“The answer to declining global aid must, therefore, be smarter multilateralism, using scarce international resources to leverage much larger investments,” he said.

He urged participants to ensure that the initiative went beyond fundraising to become a renewed compact for human capital, bringing together national leadership, international partnerships and responsible financing.

The objective, he said, should be to ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn, thrive and contribute meaningfully to the future of their country.

He expressed Nigeria’s appreciation to the Italian government and GPE for joining the campaign, reiterating that Nigeria was participating as a co-host not merely to ask the international community to invest more in education.

“We are not participating merely to ask the international community to invest more in education but to demonstrate that we are investing in education ourselves,” he said.

The Italian government subsequently announced a €50 million contribution to GPE programmes and interventions, as governments and donors at the event made commitments towards supporting the education of at least 370 million children globally.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in a video presentation, praised President Tinubu’s leadership and Nigeria’s determination to improve educational outcomes across all levels.

Meloni also called on partners in the global alliance to demonstrate greater commitment towards reversing the declining education outcomes and financing trends affecting developing countries.

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, similarly called for stronger action to close the education financing gap, stressing that meaningful change must begin with the choices governments make.

She urged international financial institutions to support countries demonstrating commitment to education by helping them create the fiscal space required to improve educational outcomes.

Mohammed particularly highlighted teacher capacity building, noting that teachers’ motivation and training remained critical to achieving sustainable improvements in learning.

Chairman of the GPE Board of Directors, Jakaya Kikwete, said the meeting was a reminder that education remained central to human rights, security and peace.

He said GPE’s renewed financing drive was being propelled by the decline in development assistance for education at a time when the financing gap was widening.

Kikwete said the world would increasingly depend on education systems capable of delivering tangible and desirable outcomes, making accelerated financing imperative.

Also speaking, girls’ education activist, Malala Yousafzai, stressed the importance of combining ideas and resources through global partnerships, saying collaborative efforts could deliver greater and more impactful results than isolated interventions.

She called on governments and multilateral organisations to commit greater resources to gender equality in education and address the specific challenges facing girls, particularly in developing countries.

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