By Chris Agabi
Sixty Five Nigerian students who were on scholarship sponsored by the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) have returned to Nigeria.
They were received by Federal Government on Wednesday July 5th.
The 65 Nigerians students were in 2018 sent to China to study Railway Engineering and other Transportation related courses by China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) as part of its social corporate responsibility.
Speaking at the event at the CCECC premises in Abuja, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Special Guest of Honour, Sen. George Akume, extolled the foresight of former President Mohammadu Buhari in realizing the need to acquire the technical know-how and requisite knowledge to man, support, maintain, and sustain the Federal Government’s ongoing railway projects across the country.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, disclosed that the journey started in 2018 when former President Muhammadu Buhari, introduced an “Advocacy for Enhanced Local Content in Nigeria’s Infrastructure Development based on Nigerian – Chinese Bi-lateral Agreements”
The outcome of the Federal Government’s initiative, Ajani said was taken over by CCECC, accepting to train Nigerians in China as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, of which they have sustained 100% sponsorship of these Nigerians with other batches still in China acquiring knowledge in various developmental fields.
Futhermore, she expressed the hope that the graduates will contribute towards the current efforts of the Government to revitalize and re-model the railway sub-sector under the 25 years Railway Modernization Plan by bringing to bear the knowledge acquired in the course of their studies.
She further informed that the Ministry of Transportation supports the policy by engaging them as engineers, technicians through “On the job Training Programmes.
Speaking also at the epoch event, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plemipotentrary of the Peoples Republic of China to Nigeria and Representative to the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), Cui Jianchun, extolled their decision to come back and serve the country, noting that this will serve as a good example to younger Nigerians, while admonishing them to use the knowledge and skillset aquired to provide the backbone to accelerate the development of a great Nigeria.
In his presentation, the Chairman, CCECC, Jason Zhang, said the event is a further testament to greater cooperation between Nigeria and China, expressing the company’s continual commitment to deepen the mutual understanding and bilateral relations.
The high point of the event was the contract signing of employment by the graduates, accepting positions with the CCECC.
