Eighty-three Nigerian scholars departed the country for Morocco under the Bilateral Education Agreement of the Federal Ministry of Education.
At a pre-departure briefing in Abuja on Thursday, the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, said that the selection of the scholars was in line with the renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
He said the ministry has further increased the number of its development partners with many of them now offering scholarships to Nigerians.
The minister advised the scholars to make their parents and Nigeria proud by being worthy ambassadors in the country of their study.
“Your selection as scholars is part of a broader plan of deepening the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which ensures that brilliant Nigerians, especially those that cannot afford to study programmes that are not readily available in Nigeria, are supported to get necessary knowledge, skills, and competencies that would be useful in Nigeria’s development agenda,” Mamman said.
“I am happy to inform you that in spite of the global economic meltdown, the number of our development partners has increased and many of them now offer scholarships to Nigeria. The active countries include Hungary, China, Russia, Algeria, Romania, Morocco, Serbia, Mexico, Egypt, and Venezuela, others not very active include Macedonia, Poland, South Korea, Greece, Japan, and Turkey.
“In order to reciprocate their good gestures, Nigeria also offered scholarship awards to China and Romania in the past and hopes to reactivate the gesture as the country and others indicate interest. As you prepare to travel to a foreign land today, many of you might be leaving your parents for the first time, while virtually all of you would be leaving for a foreign land.
“I therefore need to advise you not to see this as a freedom and you begin to do things that would be a disgrace to you, your parents, and the country. Nigeria is investing a lot in you and expect that the returns of the investment will manifest in your coming back to help move your nation forward.
“Living in a foreign land is very different from living in Nigeria. You must learn to abide by the rules governing wherever you would be studying and for those of you going to the same place, I will advise you to learn to become your brother’s keeper. Most importantly, you need to make your presence known to the Nigerian Embassy in Rabat. This is very necessary, based on our experiences from Ukraine.”