Shri Balasubramanian, India’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, has said that the country would offer 500 scholarships to Nigerians in 2023.
Balasubramanian made it known during a courtesy visit to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
The envoy said that his working visit to the agency was to promote the exchange of information and communication between the two countries.
Balasubramanian said: “We are going to have a group of journalists from Nigeria go to India, not on a course, but “actually a field visit is being organized to expose India.
“In other words, what India has been doing in the area of politics. We will not do it exclusively for Nigeria, but for West Africa, for about 30 people.
“I am sure that Nigeria, being part of the G20, will be able to get more numbers, so we will do it after March and April.
“I’ll discuss it with you to get your recommendations as well; we award 500 scholarships every year to Nigerians, 250 of them are on the civilian side.
“We will be happy to reintroduce more studies in the area of Mass Communication in a prestigious location and we also have short-term courses.”
He said the scholarship involved other courses that journalists might be interested in, saying “we work to a calendar and our fiscal year ends in March.”
“So April to March is our calendar through which we do all these things.
“Currently, they are two and a half months that are available, but in April they will be the first 250 and we will be happy to continue with these things,” added the envoy.
While he praised the bilateral relations between the two countries, he said more would be done to further deepen India-Nigeria ties in healthcare delivery.
He praised the volume of trade between the two countries, saying that more than 135 Indian companies have so far invested $19 billion in Nigeria since the past four decades of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
He said Nigeria’s invitation as a guest participant to the G20 Summit scheduled to be held on September 9-10 in New Delhi, India, would boost the opportunity to show the priority of developing countries to the world.
The High Commissioner listed the mission plan for 2023 to include celebrating India’s National Day on January 26, Food Festival and Cooking Contest on January 28, and facilitating weekly “Yoga” exercise for promote a healthy life.
In response, NAN Managing Director Buki Ponle praised Balasubramanian for the visit which has been apt to deepen relations on information exchange and news networks between the two countries. (YAYA)
