The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Alausa, has called on Nigeria to stop sending students abroad to study programmes that are already available in the country.
Alausa said Nigeria has developed significant capacity in its universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, making it unnecessary to spend large amounts of money on overseas education when similar courses can be offered locally.
He spoke in Abuja on Wednesday while discussing the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize, a Federal Ministry of Education initiative aimed at rewarding academic research, innovation and intellectual excellence.
Minister Questions Overseas Education Spending
Alausa said Nigerian tertiary institutions now have the facilities, academic staff and capacity needed to train young Nigerians in many fields.
He questioned the continued practice of sending students abroad for programmes that can be successfully provided within Nigeria.
The minister cited Nigerian students travelling to countries such as Morocco to study nursing, mass communication, journalism and psychology.
He noted that some students even have to spend additional time learning French before beginning their programmes.
According to Alausa, resources spent on such overseas education could instead be invested in improving Nigerian institutions and strengthening the country’s education system.
FG Unveils N365m Academic Prize
The minister also highlighted the Federal Government’s newly introduced Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize, which is designed to encourage research, scholarship and innovation among students and academics.
The initiative is expected to have an annual prize pool of about N365 million for outstanding undergraduate dissertations, master’s theses and doctoral research.
Special awards will also cover areas including engineering and technology, medicine and health sciences, agriculture, law, arts and social sciences, and teaching innovation.
Alausa said the selection process would be transparent, competitive and based strictly on merit, with safeguards against political or personal influence.
He said the government’s goal is to ensure that Nigerian institutions are fully utilised while encouraging students and academics to develop research and innovations capable of contributing to national development.
Source: Federal Ministry of Education.
