The German Consul-General in Lagos, Mr Ingo Herbert, has
urged Nigerian leaders to intensify efforts in equipping the teeming youths
with quality education at all levels. He made the call on the sidelines of the
official launch of an NGO called SJJ Education on Tuesday in Lagos.
SJJ Education is a German Education NGO for international
students. Herbert said that one of the ways to ensure quality education in
youths was to use substantial portion of recovered funds allegedly stolen by
public officials in ensuring free tuition across all levels.
The envoy added that for any country to attain accelerated
development and growth, it must invest massively in the education of its
citizens.
He added that "education is a critical and potent weapon in
the empowerment of any individual.
"In October 2014 for example, the German Government took the
step to completely scrap tuition fees in all public universities which allowed
international students to study in universities free.
"With this arrangement, we had in 2014, about 2.7 million
university students studying free with about 300,000 of them foreigners.
"This German policy on education, particularly the higher
education, is made free for everyone, irrespective of nationality."
The Chairman of SJJ Education, Mr Saturday Jackson, said
that the purpose of the launch of the NGO was to create more awareness on its
activities. Jackson said that the NGO, which commenced operations in 2012, had
so far assisted 200 Nigerian students to travel to Germany to further their
education. He added that “our job basically is to package all the education
needs and travel requirements for students who genuinely show interest in
studying in Germany.
"We serve as a bridge between German universities and
students in Nigeria by screening and vetting these candidates for these
universities.
"As Germany opens up to international students, many of her
institutions now offer courses and programmes entirely in English language.
"This means Nigerian students can take up Bachelor’s and
Master’s Degrees, as well as PhDs and Research Fellowships without a prior
study on German language."
Meanwhile, the Head of Visa section of the Consul-General,
Mr Sebastian Polzin, said visa would be issued to only students with genuine
proof of going to study in Germany. He said that the only reason why some
intending students were denied visa was when they fail to meet up with laid
down requirements as stated by the law. (NAN)
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