Nigeria and Italy have strengthened collaboration to implement the proposed Global Partnership for Education (GPE) financing campaign targeted at mobilizing $5 billion for education financing worldwide.
This is just as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said the GPE vision aligns with Nigeria’s agenda, which aims at improving educational outcomes by investing in access as well as capacity building for teachers.
The president leader stated this in New York, United States, during the Multiply Possibility High-level event tagged, "A New Era for Education Financing", held on the margins of the ongoing 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
In his intervention, President Tinubu, in a video message, also commended stakeholders in the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) for their efforts in accelerating education financing globally.
Speaking at the event, the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, who is representing the Nigerian President at the global gathering, noted that education is an investment in Nigeria's economic future, and productivity as well as the prosperity and stability of its citizens, stressing that it is not merely an expenses at the margins of the country's development agenda.
According to VP Shettima, while Nigeria is also looking beyond traditional budgetary allocations, President Tinubu has 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.
To carry out the President's directive, he said 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, Senator Shettima explained, demonstrates the nation's conviction that financing education needs mobilisation of every responsible and lawful domestic source available.
Citing Nigeria's alliances with the World Bank and GPE through HOPE-EDU, the Nigerian Vice President underscored what international partnership could achieve, just as he said, "The programme is expected to reach approximately 29 million children and 500,000 teachers across Nigeria."
Senator Shettima further observed that although Nigeria is a young country whose growing population could become one of its greatest economic assets, adding that this is possible only if the nation's "young people have access to quality education, relevant skills and meaningful opportunities.”
He urged participants at the high-level event to ensure that it is not merely a fundraising exercise, "but a renewed compact for human capital, bringing together national leadership, international partnership and responsible financing so that every child has the opportunity to learn, thrive and contribute to their country’s future."
UN Deputy Secretary General, Dr Amina Mohammed, and the minister of Education, Dr. TUNJI Alausa, thanked all partners for the interest shown in the improvement of education financing in developing countries, noting that the changes sought by stakeholders should begin with the choices that governments make.
She called on International Finance Institutions to support committed countries in finding the fiscal spaces needed to improve educational outcomes, including capacity building for teachers whose motivation and training remain critical to achieving set objectives.
For her part, girls’ education activist, Malala Yousafzai, emphasised the need for collaboration in ideas and resources, stating that global partnerships tend to produce greater results and more impactful outcomes than isolated interventions by countries.
Governments and donors at the high-level event made generous contributions towards the education of at least 370 million children globally, with the government of Italy pledging the sum of 50 million Euros for GPE programmes and Interventions. END
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