Nigeria and Italy are leading a global push to raise five billion dollars for education, with governments and donors targeting support for at least 370 million children worldwide.
President Bola Tinubu says the initiative aligns with Nigeria’s drive to expand access to education and strengthen teacher capacity.
The campaign was launched at a high-level event in New York, held on the margins of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
In a video message to the event, President Tinubu commended the Global Partnership for Education, GPE, for its efforts in accelerating education financing globally.
Representing the President at the event, Vice President Kashim Shettima declared that education is not an expenditure but an investment in economic productivity and national stability.
According to him, the Tinubu administration has substantially increased resources for education, strengthened basic education financing, expanded foundational learning and widened access to tertiary and technical education through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND.
Vice President Shettima noted that Nigeria’s alliance with the World Bank and the GPE through HOPE-EDU is already reaching about 29 million children and 500,000 teachers across the country.
In her own video message, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni praised President Tinubu’s leadership and Nigeria’s determination to improve educational outcomes, calling on global partners to reverse the decline in education funding for developing countries.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed called on international financial institutions to support committed countries in creating fiscal space for education, while GPE Board Chair Jakaya Kikwete warned that development assistance for education is shrinking at a time when the financing gap is widening.
At the event, governments and donors pledged support for at least 370 million children globally, with Italy announcing 50 million euros for GPE programmes.
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(Editor: Ada Ononye)
