Korede Abdullah 
Vice-President Kashim Shettima
LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigeria and Italy have stepped up efforts to mobilise $5 billion for global education financing, with Vice President Kashim Shettima urging stronger domestic and international investment to close the widening education funding gap.
The initiative was unveiled on Wednesday at the “A New Era for Education Financing” high-level event on the margins of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
President Bola Tinubu, in a video message, said the GPE campaign aligned with Nigeria’s efforts to expand access to quality education, improve learning outcomes and strengthen teacher capacity.
Representing the President at the event, Shettima said, “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.
He also cited Nigeria’s partnership with the World Bank and GPE through the HOPE-EDU programme, which he said was expected to reach about 29 million children and 500,000 teachers across Nigeria. “This is precisely why GPE matters. GPE does not replace national investment; it multiplies it,” Shettima said.
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Mirian Gom 
Oluwatobi Adu 