By Victor Asije

The European Union (EU) on Saturday said that
Nigeria was among the countries it had opened more educational
opportunities to, under its Erasmus +Programme.

The EU’s Head of Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Amb. Michel Arrion,
who made the announcement at a “Study in Europe” Fair in Lagos, said
that Nigeria was one priority country to the EU.

According to him, the Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme that supports
projects, partnerships, events and mobility in the areas of education,
training, youth and sport.

“The European Union (EU), is currently offering the system of the
Erasmus+ to countries outside the EU, including Nigeria.

“The European countries see Nigeria as a country of priority. We are,
therefore, opening up Europe to foreign students, including Nigeria, based on
cooperation between agencies in charge of universities from EU member
states,” he said.

The Ambassador said that the programme would enable Nigeria and the EU
countries to collaborate in areas of international credit mobility,
Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees, Capacity Building for Higher
Education and Jean Monnet studies.

He said that the programme would provide funding opportunities for
cooperation for qualified Nigerians.

Arrion said that the one-day fair, which was targeted at about 3000
Nigerians, was meant to expose Nigerians to the existing educational
opportunities for them in the EU states.

Prof. Hamioly Boly, ECOWAS Commissioner for Education, Science and
Culture, who commended the EU for the initiative, said that ECOWAS was
following the EU model.

Boly said that the Commission had signed an agreement with the EU on
possible areas of collaboration.

He said that ECOWAS was working on how best to strengthen
intra-Africa cooperation to promote free movement of ECOWAS
citizens across member countries for different purposes.