The Federal Government (FG) has disclosed the suspension of foreign training programs for scholars in order to redirect resources to enhance and promote domestic training initiatives and reduce dependence on international education.
This was made known by the Minister of Education, Olatunji Alausa at a 3-day British Council conference with the theme, “Building Sustainable and Relevant Tertiary Institutions and Systems in Africa” held in Abuja.
He said, “We’ve just decided—we’ve cancelled foreign training for scholars. We’ll be spending substantial money on building simulation labs and developing our universities. The amount of money we’re spending to train scholars abroad could be used to train 20 people here. We will be training everybody here.
“We will unleash capacity in our universities. We’re going to be spending more money now on research, innovation, and welfare… We will use education to empower our youth.
“We will now incentivize young Nigerians to go to technical schools. We’ll pay their tuition, provide practical training through master craft persons, and as they’re finishing, we’ll give them entrepreneurial grants not loans.”