Kano state launches Kano-French Government joint scholarship for students

From Ibrahim Ismail, Kano
Kano state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has launched
the second phase of the state government/French government joint
scholarship programme for indigenes of the state.

Under the program, the French government is responsible for the
payment of tuition fees, registration, social security scheme, cost of
books and other material totaling 10,000 Euros per student,
annually, while the state government caters for accommodation, upkeep
and travel expenses.
The scholarship is to sponsor 10 – 15 students for Masters and
Doctorate degrees, in the sciences, in the best English-teaching
public universities in France.

However, the state government, as part of its deliberate policy to build capacity of academic personnel, dedicated the scholarship, which is being managed by Campus France, to lecturers from public tertiary institutions in the state.

Presenting admission letters and travel documents to the 15 deserving
lecturers at the Government House in Kano, Governor Ganduje,
represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Usman
Alhaji, described the initiative as a significant step towards
reinforcing Nigeria-France bilateral cooperation.

“We remain focused on improving and building capacity through local
and foreign training”, he stated adding that so far, “632, 872. 56
Euros have been expended by the government to cater for its students
pursuing Masters and PhD programmes in five universities in France
and the Near East University, Cyprus”.

Governor Ganduje explained that despite financial resource
constraints, his government has continued to give priority attention
to the education sectors, explaining that recently, it invested
billions of Naira in various projects in the tertiary education sector
alone.

“It is as a result of these efforts that all our tertiary institutions
visited including the two state-owned universities passed both
institutional and programs accreditation”, he added.

The governor, therefore, urged beneficiaries of the scholarship to
make best use of the opportunity and be good ambassadors of Nigeria,
to justify the investment, hoping that the state would eventually be
the bigger beneficiary of it all.

While thanking the French government and its embassy in Nigeria for
being a good friend of the people of Kano, he promised that very soon,
his administration would open up additional windows of opportunities
for bilateral relations between the two parties, in other sectors
of socio-economic development.

Shedding light on the selection process, the Special Adviser to the
Governor on Education, Dr. Bakari Ado Husain, explained that after
nominations were made from the public higher institutions, a five-man
committee headed by the Executive Secretary, National Universities
Commission, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, screened the candidates based on
certain criteria, while the French Embassy secured the admissions.

“All the qualified candidates were made to sign a bond which made it
mandatory that after their studies, they must come back and serve Kano
state government at least for two years”, he highlighted.

All the benefiting lectures were admitted into various programs in
Chemistry, Electronics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Biology and
Physics, Dr. Bakari explained.