Recently, Shri Balasubramanian, the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, declared that India would provide 500 scholarships to Nigerian nationals in 2023.
This was disclosed by Balasubramanian while paying a visit to the NAN headquarters in Abuja.
The ambassador said that he visited the organisation on a professional trip in order to improve the flow of information and communication between the two countries.
Balasubramanian announced to shed light on India: “We will be having a group of Journalists from Nigeria go to India, not on a course but” on an actual field visit.
“In other words, what India has been doing in politics. We will not be doing it exclusively for Nigeria, but for West Africa, for about 30 people.
“I believe that Nigeria, being a part of G20, will be able to get more numbers so that we will be doing it after March and April.
“I will discuss it with you to get your recommendations also; we do award 500 scholarships every year to Nigerians, 250 of them are on the civilian side.
“We will be happy to reintroduce further studies in the area of Mass Communication in a prestigious place and we have short-term courses also.”
“We work on a calendar basis and our financial year comes to a close in March,” he said, explaining that the scholarship covered a wide range of subjects that journalists would find interesting.
“So, April to March is our calendar through which we do all these things.
“Currently, it is two and a half months that is available but come April it will be the first 250 and we will be happy to continue these things,” the envoy stated.
He praised the bilateral relationships between India and Nigeria and promised that more would be done to strengthen them in healthcare.
He spoke highly of the bilateral trade, noting that over 135 Indian companies had invested $19 billion in Nigeria for the four decades during which the two nations had diplomatic relations.
He stated that Nigeria’s invitation would bolster the opportunity to demonstrate to the world the priority of developing countries as guest participants to the G20 Summit on September 9 and 10 in New Delhi, India.
The High Commissioner detailed the mission’s plans for 2023, which included events like a Food Festival and Cooking Competition on January 28 and a monthly “Yoga” exercise class to promote healthy living and celebrate India’s National Day on January 26.
When prompted for a response, NAN’s Managing Director Buki Ponle praised Balasubramanian’s visit, noting that it had been “appropriate” to strengthen ties between the two countries’ information sharing and news networks.