Nigeria, Italy seal $15bn deal to boost education financing
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced a bilateral working group with Italy to advance the Global Partnership for Education’s “Multiply Possibility Campaign,” targeting $5 billion in global funding and an additional $10 billion in domestic education financing by 2030.
The ministry made the announcement on Thursday in a statement signed by spokesperson, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, with the initiative set to culminate at the Global Education Summit in Rome, Italy in September 2026.
The summit, according to Ebienfa, will focus on transforming learning for 750 million children and aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda priorities on youth skills, employment, and migration control.
“Nigeria and Italy have agreed to form a Working Group to implement the proposed Global Partnership for Education (GPE) financing campaign aimed at mobilizing Five billion United States Dollars for Education,” the statement read.
“The initiative, tagged the Multiply Possibility Campaign, seeks to transform learning for 750 million children and will culminate at the Global Education Summit in Rome, Italy, in September 2026.
The campaign is expected to unlock an additional ten billion dollars in domestic education financing by 2030.”
Recent discussions between the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Italian Ambassador Roberto Mengoni also addressed tourism, economic cooperation, and defence ties, underscoring deepening Nigeria-Italy bilateral relations.
“The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, made the disclosure when she received in audience the Ambassador of Italy to Nigeria, His Excellency, Roberto Mengoni, on Wednesday, 20th May, 2026,” the statement added.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu informed the Italian principal envoy that advancing education is one of the key priorities of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and went further to state that the summit had become imperative because of Nigeria’s high demographics of young people.
According to the minister, the partnership would help in giving the youth skills, employment and also controlling migration.
Ambassador Odumegwu-Ojukwu also proposed constructive dialogue in handling migration, assuring that both Nigeria and Italy will continue to work closely in deepening their bilateral ties.
She explained that the country was looking at green investments, especially in vulnerable communities, adding that “we are interested in what we can do to keep our youth within our shores in productive ways.”
Earlier, Ambassador Mengoni said the meeting was necessary for both countries, as co-chairs of the Global Partnership for Education, to agree on a date and venue for the education summit.
“Apart from partnership in educational development, discussions during the meeting also covered other areas such as tourism, economic and defence cooperation,” the statement read.
