Sixty-five Nigerians who were trained and recently graduated in China have returned to the country.
The graduates were sent to China in 2018 to study Railway Engineering and other transportation-related courses by China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).
The training is part of CCECC’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) to in Nigeria.
The Federal Government yesterday received the students in Abuja.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, lauded the foresight of former President Muhammadu Buhari for seeing the need to acquire the technical know-how and requisite knowledge to man, support, maintain, and sustain the Federal Government’s railway projects across the country.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, recalled that the journey started in 2018 when former President Buhari introduced an “Advocacy for Enhanced Local Content in Nigeria’s Infrastructure Development, based on Nigerian – Chinese Bilateral Agreements”.
A statement yesterday in Abuja by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Henshaw Ogubike, said following Federal Government’s initiative, CCECC accepted to train Nigerians in China as part of its CSR.
This, the permanent secretary said, had sustained 100 per cent sponsorship of the Nigerians with other batches still in China acquiring knowledge in various developmental fields.
The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Peoples Republic of China to Nigeria and Representative to the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), Cui Jianchun, hailed the students for returning to serve their country.
The envoy urged them to use the knowledge and skillset they acquired to accelerate Nigeria’s development.
CCECC Chairman Jason Zhang said the training was a testament to greater cooperation between Nigeria and China.
He expressed CCECC’s continual commitment to deepening mutual understanding and bilateral relations.
The graduates also signed the contract of employment and accepted various positions with the CCECC.
(THE NATION)
