Buhari: Nigerians outperform abroad due to quality education at home

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari says the competitive nature of Nigerians at home and abroad is due to the good quality of education the country provides them with, TopNaija reports.

According to a statement by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, Buhari spoke on Friday during a meeting with Shakhboot Al Nahyan, minister of foreign affairs in the United Arab Emirates, on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum.

He encouraged Nigerians in the diaspora to “subject themselves to the rules and standards of the country in which they live either as working class, or doing businesses”.

“Nigerians are all over the place, very competitive. And the competitiveness starts from home, where they have acquired good education, gone into businesses, and then take all that abroad,” Buhari was quoted as saying.

He welcomed the offer by UAE to partner with Nigeria in the areas of renewable energy, agriculture, infrastructure logistics, and provision of vaccines to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

On his part, Al Nahyan said there are many Nigerians in UAE, “who add much value” to the country.

“We want to secure, deepen and strengthen the association for the future. We have a lot in common. We may be taking small steps, but they are leading somewhere,” he said.

On proposed investments in Nigeria, Al Nahyan said it would be a win-win situation, “which would bring hope and opportunities for people in both countries”.

“We want to come and add quality and value,” the minister added.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s educational system is in assorted crises of infrastructural decay, neglect, waste of resources and sordid conditions of service. The country has over 10 million out-of-school children. That’s the highest in the world. Another 27 million children in school are performing very poorly. Millions of Nigerians are half-educated, and over 60 million – or 30% – are illiterate.

Innovative Nigerians have come up with revolutionary solutions like Afrilearn which leverages technology to democratize world-class education for Nigerians and Africans anywhere.