Nigeria and Italy have partnered on a $5 billion education financing drive that targets 500,000 teachers in Nigeria and 29 million children in a bid to reframe basic education funding as a core macroeconomic priority.
Presented at the ‘Multiply Possibility: A New Era for Education Financing’ event during the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the joint collaboration with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) positions human capital intervention as a fundamental requirement for fiscal productivity and long-term economic stability.
The campaign connects international concessional capital with domestic budget execution. Addressing delegates via video, President Bola Tinubu said the GPE vision aligned with Nigeria’s agenda aimed at improving educational outcomes by investing in access and capacity building for teachers.
Detailing the policy mechanics, Kashim Shettima, vice president highlighted that education funding forms a core element of national development planning rather than a discretionary expenditure line.
‘For Nigeria, education is not an expenditure at the margins of our development agenda,’ Shettima said. ‘It is an investment in our economic future, national productivity, and the prosperity and stability of our people.
On structural reforms, Shettima noted that through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, government had widened access to higher education, and strengthened the link between education, skills, employment and enterprise.
To fund these programs, Nigeria is redirecting off-budget recovery capital and dormant financial assets to widen domestic liquidity.
He also explained 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, he explained, demonstrated the nation’s conviction that financing education needed mobilisation of every responsible and lawful domestic source available.
Evaluating the institutional framework of HOPE-EDU, a joint project between Nigeria, the World Bank, and the GPE, Shettima outlined the operational relationship between domestic allocations and multilateral grants.
‘This is precisely why GPE matters. GPE does not replace national investment; it multiplies it,’ he said. ‘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.’
International stakeholders at the event outlined their respective operational and financial commitments. In a video presentation, Giorgia Meloni, prime minister of Italy, praised 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.
Concurrently, the Italian government pledged pound 50 million to GPE operations.
Contextualizing global funding deficits, Jakaya Kikwete, chair of the Board of Directors of GPE, noted that the event was a reminder to 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.