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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is considering sponsoring Nigerian youths to further their education in local universities, according to its Director General, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi while receiving the Vice Chancellor of Nile University, Professor Osman Nuri Das, to the agency’s office in Abuja this week.
He said huge amount of money is being spent annually in foreign shores while there are universities in Nigeria that offer same courses. It was time, Nigerian students outside of the country stayed at homeland to pursue their academic career, added Abdullahi.
His words: “In my opinion, I see no reason why we spent our money to study outside our country while we have institutions that offer same courses in Nigeria.
“According to statistics, Nigerians spend 500 million US Dollars annually to study in the United State of America. Imagine if these funds were invested to the nation educational sector, a lot could have been achieved.”
While studying abroad is good, but the wave of students going abroad to study constitutes magnificent backward movement for Nigeria, as it drains the system of funds and creates a dichotomy between generations of Nigerian students, he added.
“I don’t think it is good for local and international universities who invest hugely to the development of the educational sector. For instance, NITDA sent some Nigerians on scholarship programme to Turkey, some of them are even complaining because of the language barrier. In Nigeria, we have Nile University which is owned by Turkish, I believe it is for the benefit of us all to consider enrolling them here,” he said.
Abdullahi also explained the importance of introducing extensive IT courses in Nigerian universities. “We need to come together and form a framework to continue our collaboration with Nile University. We can nurture our students here by introducing courses about Emerging Technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cloud Computing to further strengthen Nigeria’s journey to achieving digital economy.”
In the area of capacity building among students, Abdullahi reiterated his commitment in training both undergraduates and post graduate students especially in emerging technologies.
He said NITDA is currently building a centre in Wuye District, Abuja, which is almost completed and is to be dedicated to “Nigerian students crazy ideas to harness, innovate and incubate their ideas in order to grow the country’s economy through digital technology.”
Professor Das thanked the NITDA’s boss for his continued support especially in the area of scholarship. He pleaded with Abdullahi to consider renewing and possibly increasing number of students sponsored by the agency currently undergoing Masters and PhD studies.
His words: “We are here to thank you for all the support you have been given to us. Over the years NITDA remains one of our truest collaborative organisations. We have achieved a lot, and we want to achieve more.”
He also assured the NITDA of the university’s commitment in introducing courses on emerging technologies and artificial intelligence that can be taught in Nigerian universities.
“Though we have been giving special treatment to our students particularly in IT related course, I assure you Nile University will do its best in actualising this dream.
“It will interest you to know that no post graduate student leaves Nile without developing software application or portal that can impact on the society. It is our norm to put things in practice after learning basic theory of its aspect”, he added.
