News
Breakthrough in Education Funding could help Over 8million Nigerian Children- Education Commission
.Youth activists deliver petition with 1.5 million signatures calling for the biggest global investment in education history
.United Nations Secretary-General, World Bank, and Regional Development Banks support for the International Finance Facility for Education.
.UN Special Envoy Gordon Brown warns of global education crisis with “wide and persistent divide” that risks excluding 400 million girls from employment by 2030.
Nigeria has one of the world’s largest populations of out-of-school youth in the world, and most children deprived of an education are girls.
Today, youth activists from around the world will meet in New York with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and carry a clear and simple message:”We need more and better funding for education to achieve our full potential.”
The youth will hand over a global petition with more than 1.5 million signatures calling on world leaders to launch a new International Finance Facility for Education that can provide an additional USD 10 billion for global education investments for the most marginalized young people throughout the world.
More than eight million Nigerian children, 60% of them girls, are not in school and won’t have the skills they need to get jobs and build secure, stable futures.
Nigeria is part of a global education crisis. If no action is taken, more than 400 million girls around the world will not be on track to have the skills needed for employment in 2030.
Learning standards across Africa are 100 years behind today’s average high-income countries, and by 2030 the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (the Education Commission) estimates that more than half of the world’s children and young people – some 800 million youth – will not have the basic skills needed for the modern workforce.
On current trends, it will take until after 2100 for all countries to reach the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) target of ensuring that all children complete primary and secondary education.
UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown said: “The human faces behind these statistics are the most heartbreaking.
“In Nigeria, girls living in poverty bear the greatest burden – many of them drop out of school and get married early.
“They are left without skills for the modern economy and won’t have much hope for the future.”
The International Finance Facility for Education would work with countries to collectively achieve the largest education investment in history and empower the next generation to fulfill their potential.
Young people are outraged that progress has stalled as investment has not kept pace with the need for education funding.
International support for education has declined from 13% of all aid ten years ago to now just 10%.
All aid to education in developing countries combined offers only USD 10 per child – not enough to pay for a second-hand textbook, let alone a quality education.
Today at the United Nations, Global Youth Ambassadors from Nepal, Kenya, and Sierra Leone are bringing the signatures of more than 1.5 million people asking for change and immediate action.
The petition was collected by young people working with several organizations, including Theirworld’s network of 900 Global Youth Ambassadors in 90 countries, BRAC in Bangladesh, and Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi in Pakistan.
The youth will meet with the United Nations Secretary-General, UN Special Envoy Gordon Brown, President of the Inter-American Development Bank Luis Moreno, and the World Bank’s Vice President for Human Development Annette Dixon to discuss funding for education.
The International Finance Facility for Education could help countries like Nigeria bridge the education funding gap and get all children in school and learning.
The Facility, put forth by the Secretary-General, would make aid more effective by leveraging and maximizing the impact of donor resources through the World Bank and regional development banks to provide an additional 20 million places in school in its initial stage.
Countries would multiply the impact by increasing their own funding and committing to critical education reforms.
Upon meeting with the youth advocates and receiving the petition, the United Nations Secretary-General declared, “In our fast-changing world, we cannot accept 250 million children failing to learn even the most basic skills.
“In the coming decade, some one billion young people will enter the workforce. They all need education so that they can help build a world of peace, prosperity, dignity, and opportunity for all.
That is why the proposed new International Finance Facility for Education is critical.”
History shows that innovative and concerted international efforts can have profound impact. A decade and a half ago, such cooperation generated extraordinary new resources for the health sector and saved millions of lives.
Achieving universal education would increase GDP per capita in low-income countries by almost 70% by 2050.
The Facility will make what was once considered impossible – quality education for every child – possible within a generation.
Patience Okala, the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office has urged African countries to stop exporting raw materials and instead focus on adding value to its natural resources if it is to fully harness the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area.
She stated this on Thursday at the Streamsowers & Köhn 20th Anniversary Business Forum, where she stressed that value addition and beneficiation are essential to Africa’s industrialisation and long-term economic growth.
According to a statement issued on Friday by the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, she said the AfCFTA goes beyond the elimination of tariffs, serving as a framework for industrialisation, value addition, and job creation across the continent.
“AfCFTA is not only about tariffs; it is also about value addition. Africa has to stop exporting raw materials. We need to add value and ensure that beneficiation is done on the continent,” she said.
Okala also said Africa’s economic transformation would depend on the effective implementation of the AfCFTA rather than on the signing of trade agreements alone.
“We have moved beyond negotiations. The success of AfCFTA will be measured by the extent to which businesses can access new markets, trade seamlessly across borders, and benefit from the opportunities created by the agreement,” she said.
She noted that Nigeria had intensified efforts to implement the agreement under the leadership of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, including the development of simplified AfCFTA guides in six languages to help businesses understand and take advantage of opportunities under the trade pact.
Okala called for stronger collaboration among governments, regulators, and the private sector to eliminate barriers to trade and investment and build a truly integrated African market.
“As we move from policy to implementation, our collective responsibility is to ensure that the opportunities created by AfCFTA become practical realities for businesses, particularly MSMEs, women-owned enterprises, and young entrepreneurs across the continent,” she said.
Cisco is exploring artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions to support smallholder farmers in Nigeria, as part of efforts to expand digital inclusion and technology adoption.
The initiative focuses on improving agricultural productivity through accessible, data-driven tools.
The move aligns with growing collaboration between Nigeria and the United States under the Commercial and Investment Partnership, which prioritises the digital economy, agriculture and infrastructure.
Speaking at the 2026 World Business Chicago, Brian Tippens, chief social impact and inclusion Officer at Cisco, said the company is assessing practical AI applications to help farmers combine local knowledge with data insights.
He said Cisco is exploring tools such as AI-enabled WhatsApp communities, geospatial mapping and weather intelligence to support day-to-day farming decisions.
The approach reflects a shift towards low-cost, mobile-first solutions suited to rural environments.
Tippens added that the Cisco Foundation is investing in early-stage startups developing technologies for local agricultural challenges.
Industry analysts note that AI adoption in emerging markets depends on locally relevant solutions, rather than large-scale enterprise deployments alone.
Beyond agriculture, Cisco plans to expand digital skills development in Nigeria through programmes such as the Cisco Networking Academy’s One Million Learners initiative.
Tippens said the programme also supports partnerships with organisations working with persons with disabilities, including those developing tools for people with visual impairments.
He added that Cisco’s social impact strategy aims to improve access to technology and promote inclusion, including in conflict-affected regions such as Borno State.
Cisco’s initiatives form part of broader efforts to link digital skills, connectivity and AI adoption to economic development in Nigeria.
Federal Government has launched a nationwide Artificial Intelligence (AI) capacity-building programme for teachers in Federal Unity Colleges, with about 11,700 educators set to acquire digital skills aimed at improving classroom instruction and preparing students for a technology-driven future.
The initiative advanced with the signing of the Terms of Reference (ToR) between the Federal Ministry of Education and ICEDT Consult Limited, paving the way for the nationwide implementation of the AI Teacher Capacity Development Programme.
The programme, to be implemented through the ministry’s Education Support Services Department, is part of the Federal Government’s efforts to modernise Nigeria’s education sector, strengthen teacher professionalism and equip students with skills required in the digital economy under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Speaking during the signing ceremony in Abuja, the Director of the Education Support Services Department, Gabriel Amudipe, described the initiative as a strategic investment in Nigeria’s teaching workforce and the future of education.
He said the nationwide rollout followed the successful completion of a pilot phase conducted in selected Federal Unity Colleges.
According to him, the implementation model developed by ICEDT Consult Limited will ensure effective coordination and quality delivery of the programme across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
Amudipe urged officials responsible for monitoring the project to ensure strict compliance with the implementation guidelines and maintain the standards achieved during the pilot phase.
“The ministry remains committed to supporting innovative initiatives that strengthen teacher professionalism, improve learning outcomes and promote the responsible integration of emerging technologies into education,” he said.
Earlier, the Deputy Director of the Education Support Services Department, Oladele Fapohunda, described the programme as a strategic intervention designed to deepen digital innovation across Federal Unity Colleges.
He stressed that collaboration among all stakeholders would be essential to achieving the objectives of the initiative nationwide.
Also speaking, the Head of Strategic Partnerships and Learning Scientist at ICEDT Consult Limited, Dr Abdulrahman Orosanya, said the Federal Government approved the national rollout after the successful pilot implementation in six Federal Unity Colleges representing Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
According to Orosanya, the pilot demonstrated the potential of Artificial Intelligence to improve lesson planning, classroom delivery, assessment methods and teachers’ productivity.
He said the nationwide implementation would strengthen teachers’ digital competencies, improve instructional delivery and support the government’s vision of building a technology-driven education system capable of producing globally competitive graduates equipped with 21st-century skills.
The ceremony ended with the formal signing of the Terms of Reference by officials of the Federal Ministry of Education and ICEDT Consult Limited, signalling the commencement of preparations for full implementation across all Federal Unity Colleges.
The ministry said the programme would directly train about 11,700 teachers, while thousands of students across the country’s Federal Unity Colleges are expected to benefit through improved classroom instruction, increased digital innovation and the responsible application of Artificial Intelligence in teaching and learning.
It reaffirmed its commitment to working with relevant stakeholders to modernise Nigeria’s education system, improve teacher quality and deliver inclusive, equitable and future-ready education nationwide.
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