THE Federal Government has expressed optimism that Nigeria’s participation in the Erasmus+ programme will be a game changer in the concerted efforts to produce globally competitive graduates with the requisite knowledge, skills and competencies needed to drive the country’s quest for sustainable development.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu, said this at the maiden edition of Erasmus+ National Information Day held in Abuja.
Erasmus+ stands for European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students+. Under the programme, the European Union has earmarked a whopping sum of €570 million as budget allocation for sub-Saharan Africa for 2021-2027.
While Erasmus Programme is the EU programme that allows students to travel to countries in the European Union, Erasmus+ on the other hand is the new programme combining all the EU’s current schemes for education, training, youth and sports, which was started in January 2014 and will be held for the period 2021-2027.
According to EU, the enhanced phase of Erasmus+ aims at improving the skills, competences and employability of higher and vocational education students, and training of academic and administrative staff.
In addition, it would also focus on enhancing the quality and relevance of higher education institutions’ education programmes to the labour market, helping education programmes by African institutions become relevant to their society, strengthening and boosting innovation in higher education, improving governance, leadership and management of the institutions.
Among other things, it would also fund the mobility of individuals between EU Member States and Africa through mobility agreements. Students at all levels of education from undergraduate to postgraduate, and both academic and non-teaching staff would benefit.
The EU, further noted that Africa had the youngest population in the world, with 70 percent of sub-Saharan Africa under the age of 30, adding that such a high number of young people are unskilled and consequently unemployed.
“The main challenges that Africa’s youth is confronting is inadequate or irrelevant skills development,” it added.
Speaking at the maiden edition of Erasmus+’s National Information Day in Abuja, Dr Yusuf said that the event was organised with the aim of sensitising the students and scholars in the Nigerian tertiary institutions and the general public on the importance of the Erasmus+ programmes to the African countries.
Sununu said the Erasmus scholarship scheme was one of the most popular European scholarship programmes anyone could hope to be part of.
According to him, it is a multinational exchange programme aimed at promoting international collaboration, harnessing international talent and facilitating mobility among borders for exchange of knowledge and research.
“I wish to inform you that the “Renewed Hope Agenda” of President Bola Tinubu Administration recognises that the Nigeria’s education system must prepare and equip the citizenry to effectively contribute their quota to national development.
“It must be able to produce globally competitive graduates with the requisite knowledge, skills and competencies needed to drive the country’s quest for sustainable development and increased national prosperity.
“Also, it must prepare and arm Nigeria’s youths to take competitive advantage of the 21st century knowledge-driven economy within and outside the country,” he said.
The minister added that the ministry recently launched an education roadmap for Nigerian Education Sector, which was aimed at repositioning Nigeria’s education system to effectively play its central role in the national reform.
He said Erasmus+ National Information Day is therefore, a step in the right direction to sensitise the Nigeria students and scholars about opportunities offered by the European Union in the areas of leadership development, entrepreneurship education, technology hubs and capacity building on research and innovation, among others.
He urged the Coordinator of Erasmus+ National Focal Points (ENFP) in the Federal Ministry of Education to collaborate with the EU Ambassadors in Nigeria and other relevant stakeholders to cascade the Erasmus National Information Day to the various geo-political zones in order to create awareness among students and staff of tertiary institutions on Erasmus+ scholarships and capacity-building programmes on higher education.
Sununu observed that for the government to successfully implement the roadmap for education there was the need for effective collaboration with the international development partners and other relevant stakeholders.
He said the collaboration was essential to improve the cross fertilisation of knowledge and ideas to build their immediate country as well as open gate to embrace courses not taught in one’s country.
The Minister expressed concerns about massive exodus of Nigerians in search of greener pastures often referred as Japa Syndrome, a development which he said, threatens not only the education sector but all sectors of the nation’s economy.
He said: “Nigeria is currently facing a lot of brain drain from virtually all aspects.
“This is because of the resilience of an average Nigerian scholar in giving service delivery irrespective of the condition. Therefore, Nigeria becomes a melting point for the international community to come in and harness talent and move them to serve their people. It is of concern to us that if we cannot match the output and input, definitely the future may not be good for us.
“It is in that regard that we are ready to partner with the European Union and America to protect Nigeria’s educational sector so that we will be able to continue to produce products that can service Nigeria and also be exported to other countries as part of our global contribution to development.
“Nigeria is indeed ready to collaborate with EU and the West. We have already developed a guideline that was voted on and passed by the Federal Executive Council on the transnational education. It is in view of that I would call on all ambassadors here to get hold of that document, utilize it and see how we can work together to ensure that we continue to produce globally accepted certification that will guarantee us the ability to contribute meaningfully to the development of our country, Nigeria, and also to the other countries that depend on our services through the export of our talent.”
Earlier, the Deputy Head of Delegation, Erasmus+, Zissimos Vergos, said that Nigeria was among the top countries with a larger demographic footprint and hence would like to see Nigeria rise in the area of academic excellence.
Vergos added that Nigeria must educate her citizenry to make meaningful impact as well as a life changing educational experience.
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