FG cancels foreign training for scholars – Education minister
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Federal Government has announced the cancellation of foreign training programmes for Nigerian scholars, with immediate effect.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Tuesday during the opening ceremony of a three-day conference organised by the British Council in Abuja.
Alausa explained that the decision aims to redirect resources toward developing local universities and enhancing domestic training capacity.
“We have just decided to canceled foreign training for scholars. The amount of money we are spending to train one scholar abroad, we could use it to train 20 people here. We will be training everybody here,” he said.
The government plans to invest in building simulation laboratories, improving research and innovation, and boosting the welfare of academic and non-academic staff.
Alausa also outlined the government’s focus on technical and vocational education as part of its six-pillar agenda.
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“We will pay for their tuition as a second step, and as a third step, a master craft person, when they will get their practical training, we will pay them as well.
“The curriculum will be 80 per cent practical on-the-job training and 20 per cent didactic, and as they are finishing, we will also give them entrepreneurial grants, not loan,” he said.
Addressing concerns about education funding, Dr. Alausa noted that the public often overlooks the additional government spending on federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education beyond the education ministry’s budget.
British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, emphasised the need for strong and sustainable tertiary institutions in Africa, particularly with the continent’s population projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050.
Montgomery said that such institutions should be able to produce skilled and employable graduates.