MORE than 7,000 Nigerian students have enrolled in Chinese universities, studying for their master’s and doctoral degrees in Engineering, Medicine, Agriculture and other majors, Nigerian Tribune has learnt.
Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of China in Nigeria, Mr Zhao Yong who confirmed the development, revealed that many of them are covered by a wide variety of scholarships.
Yong further stated that China, in a bid to help strengthen Nigeria’s educational and technological development, established the Luban Workshop at the University of Abuja, a facility he described as the most advanced in West Africa that would provide high-end technical training for young Nigerians.
He spoke at a symposium on the 50th anniversary of China-Nigeria diplomatic relations on the main campus of University of Abuja, affirming that in the past 50 years, the relationship between the two countries enjoyed mutual respect, trust and support.
According to him, China provided about 300 government scholarships for Nigerians yearly.
He described the bilateral relations between the country and Nigeria as entering a new phase in which both countries would work harder to defeat the COVID– 19 pandemic, deepen infrastructural cooperation and help Nigeria accelerate the process of industrialisation.
The diplomat said in 2019, the trade volume between China and Nigeria reached 19.27 billion US dollars, which was 1,900 times that of 1971 when the diplomatic relations was established. “Nigeria became China’s second largest trading partner and largest export market in Africa. At the same time, Nigeria is China’s major investment destination in Africa,” Yong added.
The vice chancellor of the University of Abuja, Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, in his welcome address, said the relationship between the two countries had been solid and still growing stronger, even as he tasked the Nigerian government to use its population, like China, to develop its people.
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