The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian students

  • Nigerian students in Canada increase by 6,000

    The number of Nigerian students studying in various institutions of learning in Canada has increased in the last two years by 6,000.

    The Canadian Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Marcello Di Francoe, said this when the Olojudo of Ido-Osun in Egbedore Local Government of Osun State, Oba Aderemi Adedapo, conferred a traditional Chieftaincy title on him.

    Di Francoe was installed the Aare Agbasaga of Ido-Osun due to his support for the Yoruba culture since he came to Nigeria in September 2012.

    Di Francoe, who said that he facilitated the opportunity for many Nigerians to study in Canada, stressed that several things have been done to strengthen the educational and cultural relationship between Nigeria and Canada.

    The envoy promised to further improve the relationship between the two countries and urged that education should be given a priority.

    Di Francoe, whose father followed him to Ido-Osun to receive the chieftaincy title, expressed his gratitude to the royal father whom he described as “very accommodating.”

    Oba Adedapo, described Di Francoe as a culture ambassador who used his position to strengthen the cultural relationship between Canada and Nigeria.

    Oba Adedapo, who urged the traditional rulers to wake up and promote the Yoruba culture, lamented the lack of respect for the Yoruba language and culture, saying the development portends a grave danger to the future of the Yoruba nation.

    The monarch appealed to the Canadian High Commission to support his town to reconstruct the old palace and turn it to a tourist attraction.

    He said: “We want to appeal to the Deputy High Commissioner to use his position and help us rebuild our old palace that we want to turn to a tourist centre.”

    Speaking earlier, the Chairman, organising committee, Mr. Wale Olaitan, expressed gratitude to the traditional ruler and the envoy for the success of the programme.

     

  • 7,318 Nigerian students studying in U.S. —Official

    THE United States Embassy in Abuja says 7,318 Nigerian students are studying in more than 700 universities and colleges in that country.

    Mrs Jennifer Onyeukwu, Head, Education USA Advising Centre (EAC), said this in Abuja on yesterday during the pre-departure ceremony for those leaving for studies in the U.S.

    Onyeukwu said no fewer than 150 students were preparing to leave for studies in the U.S by August.

    She added that 80 per cent of them were given full or partial scholarships by the schools.

    “The total, right now, of Nigerian students studying in the U.S is 7,318 at undergraduate and graduate programmes.

    “This fall, which is Aug. 2014, we are sending more than a hundred students to study in the U.S., over 80 per cent had some form of scholarship or financial aid from schools in the U.S.”

    The official also said there were 22 scholarships under U.S Achievers’ Programme, “which recognises academically stellar students who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

    “We give them the opportunity to compete for the few slots available.

    “With the USAP programme, we help the students identify U.S colleges and universities that would offer them admission with full funding.

    “Fifteen of them have got admission with full funding”, she said. Onyeukwu added that six students out of those given full scholarship funds had scholarships from the MasterCard Foundation.

    “MasterCard Scholarship is a separate kind of scholarship that is given by the MasterCard Foundation in partnership with U.S colleges and some of the universities around the world.

    “The six students under the MasterCard Scholarship received 311,140 dollars annually for four years.”

    She said the foundation had earmarked 500 million dollars for “economically disadvantaged young people” in sub-Sahara Africa desiring to further their studies.

    She said the scholarship was for a 10-year period and targeted students with academic talent, commitment to giving back and leadership potentials.

    Onyeukwu also said the EAC, the education advisory arm of the embassy, sought to use its platforms to appropriately advice Nigerian students who desired to study in the U.S.

    She added that the embassy and its consulate in Lagos organised free orientation sessions in their communities and outreaches in schools and universities in the country to sensitise students on available study opportunities.

    A few students who were granted full scholarships to the U.S spoke to reporters .

    Hannatu Sadiq, who participated in the USAP, was one of the beneficiaries of the MasterCard Scholarship.

    “The ECA officials came to our school n 2010 and I picked the courage from there to work hard and give them what they required and I got into USAP in 2013.

    “I’m on MasterCard Scholarship to Michigan State University to study Chemical Engineering and I’m grateful for this opportunity because now my parents don’t have to pay anything for my tertiary education.”

    Also, Moses Onyeabor, another MasterCard Scholarship beneficiary going to study biochemistry, expressed his gratitude in an interview .

    “I got to know about the USAP while I was in the School for the Gifted and I decided to give it a try.

    “I applied to seven schools and finally got admission into three universities but Arizona State University gave me a MasterCard Scholarship which covers everything including a living stipend.”

    Nigeria is the largest sender of students to the U.S from sub-Sahara Africa and students in 2013 received 2.9 million dollars’ worth of scholarship funds from top notch institutions.

  • Nigerian students excel at competition

    Two students of Homat Group of Schools Ikorodu Lagos have emerged the best students at the just-concluded international debate competition held at the Abu-Dhabi Centre for Teaching and Vocational Training, United Emirate.

    The environmental science debate competition tagged “Expo Science International” featured more than 1000 students from over 400 schools across the world.

    The Senior Secondary School three (SS3) students who did Nigeria proud at the event werere Jesuloluwa Ogunaike and Hazzan Oluwasegun.

    The director of the studies of the school,Mr. Wale Adekoya, described the success of the students as a well deserved victory.

    He said the school has been taken part in such competition since 2009 and its performance has been impressive.

    Adekoya said the school came fouth in 2009, in the competition which took place in United States of America while the school came second in 2010 edition which took place in Houston Texas, United States .

    He maintained that the school also performed creditably in 2011 edition which took place in Slovakia and took the third position in 2012 edition of the event.

    He said the annual competition has helped students to be more serious and compete favourably with themselves so as to ensure that they emerge as the candidate for the competition.

    He, therefore, revealed that the students will be compensated with handsome prizes and scholarship so that they could be motivated to improve their knowledge and make

    Nigeria proud in the future.

    The two students, who spoke to our correspondent, expressed their happiness with the development and promised to improve their skills and learning ability.

    Jesuloluwa Ogunaike said she appreciated the management of her school for giving her the opportunity to take part in the completion, urging her co-students to be more serious with their studies so that they can also be celebrated. She said she had discovered that through diligence students can achieve a lot.

    Another student Hazzan Oluwasegun who could not hide his joy said he never knew Nigeria could win the first prize. He said they were all given the same playing ground and allowed them to prove themselves.