By Our Correspondent

Special Assistant ICT And Corporate Relations to the Honourable minister of youth and sports development, Kemi Areola, has called for improved standard of education in Nigeria in order to bring educational level in the country at par with foreign ones, Bestchoicesports.com.ng can report

Kemi Areola made the call while delivering a speech at the Open Ukrainian Education Days programme held at the NAF Conference Centre, Abuja on Thursday.

Mrs Areola who said that the disparity between standard of education obtained from European and developed countries and that of Nigeria is high, called for concerted efforts to bridge the gap and discourage Nigerians from seeking for foreign studies at the expense of Nigeria institutions.

She noted that the situation is getting worse due to the fact that employers of labour in the country gibe premium attention to graduates from foreign countries than those from local institutions.

“The quest to build a better Nigeria has gone beyond mere low level of education; youths need to be equipped with solid quality education to compete in the labour market. The rate at which Nigerian students relocate abroad to study has continually been on the increase and every year has witnessed a significant rise in the numbers of students migrating overseas for education despite the huge costs of financing such moves.

“People that study abroad are usually rated above those that studied in Nigeria’s indigenous institutions. It has been observed that employers of labour in Nigeria tend to prefer people who studied abroad, especially in countries with great quality of education.

“We are not saying that Nigerian’s quality of education is below par but that we have a fair bit to learn from countries that have educational systems in place for a good number of years longer than Nigeria has. Such people that study abroad are usually rated above those that studied in Nigeria’s indigenous institutions.

“To do this, therefore, there is need for improvement in the standard of education in the country.,” she said.

She implored every youth to consider studying at least a part of their course abroad in order to cover up the lapses inherent in the local educational system

“Studying in Ukraine depends on finances as well as scholarship programs that financially support qualified students. For the purpose of studying in home comfort, their universities offer various online courses,” he stated.

On her part, the 2nd Secretary, Ukrainian Embassy in NIgeria – Bodgan Soltys noted that many Nigerian students are studying in Ukraine through scholarship and other grants.

She noted that Nigeria’s population is very youth heavy and that will become more relevant in the next 10 to 20 years with good educational system.

“One of the cheapest countries to study in developed countries is Ukraine, you can have a degree with 2000 to 4500 dollars.

“Recently, there has been an increase in the population of Nigerians interested in studying in Ukraine. ‘Ukranian Education Foundation’ was purposely set up to facilitate scholarships and also to play an advocacy role in improving the experiences of students studying in Ukraine.”

Highlights of the conference was signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Olena Nedryhailo (official representative of UCCI in Nigeria) and Dr Angela Adamu (partners – Intergraid EDU Projects) for the creation of a Charity organization “Ukranian Education Foundation”.
 
Dignitaries present at the conference include representatives from the Embassy of Ukraine in Nigeria, Nigeria Ministry of Education, Ukrainian State Center for International Education and Ministry of Science of as well as Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Nigeria, Director of Nigerian-Ukranian Trade House “Newsvit” and partners – Intergraid Edu Projects in the quest to ease the process of Nigerians interested in studying in Ukraine.