Ambassador Receives 107 Nigerian Students On Russian Scholarship

In the last 12 months, the Nigerian Ambassador to Russia, Prof Abdullahi Yibaikwal Shehu, has received 107 Nigerian students in Moscow who were admitted for various undergraduate programmes in universities in Russia and Belarus.

In a statement issued by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Moscow, Russia, Shehu said the students were admitted under Nigerian Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) with Russia, and they were all awarded with Russian scholarships.

The embassy said majority of the students are to study Medicine, Engineering and Technology.

Shehu said, ‘’Overall, Nigeria has over 500 students in the Russian Federation under the bilateral education scholarship, while more than 1500 students are private students spread across Russian universities.

‘’Indeed, this would strengthen bilateral relations and facilitate knowledge and technology transfer to Nigeria’’, the Embassy stated.

The embassy recalled that Nigeria established bilateral relations with the Soviet Union in 1960.

‘’The Nigerian Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) with Russia has been in existence since the Soviet era and took its current form as far back as 1997. Since then, the Russian Federation has awarded scholarships to several Nigerian citizens to study in various institutions in Russia.

‘’This year, about 107 scholarships have been awarded by the Russian Government for 2022/2023 Academic Session. The scholars arrived Russia in three batches,’’ he said.

The statement further reads in part: ‘’In his welcoming remarks, Ambassador Shehu congratulated the students on their successful arrival in Moscow, and noted that the opportunity to study on scholarships for Nigerian students at various Russian universities represents a successful cooperation in the field of education between Nigeria and Russia and is one of the most important areas in the development of bilateral relations between the two countries.

‘’The ambassador expressed appreciation to the Russian Government and thanked the Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs of Nigeria for facilitating the movement of the scholars. Furthermore, the Ambassador assured that the Embassy would support the students to achieve the purpose of their coming to Russia,’’ the embassy said.