Buhari Joins Other World Leaders to Raise US$5 Billion for Education

President Buhari and other world leaders are to raise US$5 billion to support education systems in up to 90 countries and territories, where 80% of the world’s out-of-school children live.

The Nigeria’s President who is presently in London, United Kingdom with senior officials in his government to attend the Global Education Summit holding in the European country, will seek with the other world leaders to raise the fund from donors across the globe.

The meeting which is jointly hosted be UK and Kenya on the 28th and 29th of July 2021, is Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and will be urging world leaders to invest in education and improve access for girls.

A statement on Monday by the British High Commission in Nigeria said: “At the summit, the Global Partnership for Education aims to raise at least US$5 billion from donors to support education systems in up to 90 countries and territories, where 80% of the world’s out-of-school children live.

According to the statement, the UK has been a donor to the GPE since 2005. At the G7 the UK Prime Minister already secured a landmark commitment from G7 partners to pledge at least $2.7bn to the Global Partnership for Education ahead of the Global Education Summit. This includes £430m from the UK, an uplift of 15% and the UK’s largest ever pledge to GPE.

The statement further read that the Global Education Summit also provides an opportunity for Nigeria share commitments to protect and progressively increase domestic education spend towards the global benchmark of 20% of total government expenditure.

Nigeria already receives substantial funding from the GPE. In June 2021, the GPE formally announced the approval of a new grant for Nigeria of $125m, an education programme that will be implemented by the World Bank in Oyo, Katsina and Adamawa states, the Statement disclosed.

The statement further added that. “Over the past 10 years in Nigeria, bilateral UK support has improved education systems for 11 state governments, reaching over 8 million children. This support has helped to reach out-of-school children and ensure they can access school and receive quality learning, including basic literacy and numeracy.

“Educating girls is one of the best investments for reducing poverty and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and therefore is a priority for the UK, also in Nigeria. Since 2012, the UK has supported over 1 million girls to access schooling in six states through the Girls Education Project Phase 3, in partnership with UNICEF. Since 2018, UK aid support through the Education in Emergencies programme, reached over 200,000 conflict affected children in the North East of Nigeria with formal and informal education.”

The statement further revealed that: “As a part of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s global campaign to promote the aims and objectives of the Global Education Summit, and in another demonstration of Nigeria’s importance to the UK’s Global Education ambitions, Nigerian students from a Government Secondary School, in Abuja, joined children from around the world to record messages about what education means to them.”

The statement quoted the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, to have said: “I encourage Nigerian leaders to commit to protecting and increasing funding for a future where every Nigerian 10-year-old can read, and where every child can access 12 years of education. I hope there will be ambitious pledges and donors can come together to support the GPE financing to give 175 million children the opportunity to learn.”

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

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