No fewer than 39 Nigerian students have received fully funded scholarships from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), offering them the chance to work in Japanese businesses and contribute their skills to the development of Nigeria.
This was made known on Thursday in Abuja during the send-off of the awardees by Mr. Matsunaga Kazuyoshi, the Japanese ambassador to Nigeria, and Mr. Yuzurio Susumu, the country representative for JICA in Nigeria.
According to reports 39 Nigerian students have been granted full access to take advantage of three programs which include Africa Business Education Initiative and SDGs Global Leader Programme.
The third program is based on partnership for strengthening resilience to public health emergencies through advanced research and education (PREPARE).
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According to Matsunaga, the program aims to support Nigeria’s development in all spheres and promote Japanese-Nigerian universities.
‘Japan and Nigeria have trade volume annually of nearly 1 billion US dollars, however, I feel more potentially to have more Japanese companies coming here.’
‘To invest and collaborate with other governments and also UN agencies to assist Nigeria to develop more.’
‘We have many Japanese companies with many technologies but the problem is that they do not know very much about Nigeria because the news media just release Boko Haram and how many people are kidnapped.
‘But when I was posted to Nigeria, I see the big potential in Nigeria so my role is to promote more to know that Nigeria is attractive and let Japanese companies know more opportunities to come to Nigeria.’
“Today we will send 39 very talented Nigerian youths, I really expect them to be good Ambassadors, to promote and to strengthen Nigeria, Japanese relationship,’ Matsunaga noted.
According to Yuzurio, the project aims to expand development further from the public sector to the private sector, which is essential to the growth of every country.
‘This initiative is very important for African countries not only to develop, not only the public sector but also the private sector.”
‘The important thing is how to collaborate with domestic and international companies which have expertise towards the Nigerian companies.’
‘At the program, they have enormous opportunities to work with Japanese companies, and exchange networks, and bring them to Nigeria and work with them. So it has a very significant impact on Nigeria’s development,’ Yuzurio said.
According to Mr. Bitrus Chinoko, the director-general of the Centre for Management Development (CMD), the chance given to Nigerian students to study in Japan and then return to Nigeria to create a positive contribution was appreciated – he commended the Japanese government for their kind gesture.
The program, according to Chinoko, who was represented by Mrs. Dorothy Esiri, a Director at the center, was an investment in the nation’s education.
‘This time around, it is being a huge number of participants which is a very huge investment in knowledge and education.’
“Each of these participants will come back to Nigeria and impact in the different sectors of research which they will be carrying on while in Japanese universities.”
‘We cannot appreciate the government of Japan enough represented here by the Japanese Ambassador and the Country representative of JICA,’ Chinoko said.
The event’s co-organizers and former program beneficiaries, Mr. Aliyu Bawalle and KAKEHASHI Africa Nigeria Initiative (KANI), expressed their delight at the program’s expansion in Nigeria.
According to Bawalle, the program, which is in its 9th edition, has witnessed a significant growth, with 39 beneficiaries this year—the greatest number since the program’s start.
‘We are ex-beneficiaries of the programme and the role we are playing is to facilitate the process of recruitment of Nigerians to also benefit from the program.’
‘This year we have the highest number ever, 39, and I know that our role played a significant increase to that, we were 22 in 2016.’
‘The expectation is for them to be a good ambassadors and representatives of Nigeria in Japan, and the second expectation is for them to go and learn the skills, knowledge, competence and attitude they can bring back to Nigeria.”
‘And I am sure the knowledge they will go to learn will be very much needed in our economy appreciation to the government,’ Bawalle said.
The Japanese government has shown commendable interest in the development of the nation, Nigeria. Nigeria is endowed with very smart your who are not fortunate with a good educational system in the country. With Japan’s gesture, at least a small fraction of these youths will be opportune to gain higher knowledge in their areas of endeavor.