On Tuesday, FCT minister Nyesom Wike said the FCT Administration would partner South Korea on vocational education. Mr Wike also expressed willingness to partner Turkiye on agricultural development.

The minister stated this when the ambassadors of South Korea to Nigeria and his Turkish counterpart visited him in his office. On Tuesday, he told the South Korean diplomat, Kim Young-Chae, that he visited the country while he was Nigeria’s education minister and discussed vocational education.

He described South Korea’s vocational education model as “impressive.”

“It was my desire that we would have concluded with that partnership then, but unfortunately, that was not to be. I would also like to reintroduce that as the FCT minister to see how we can also have that vocational school,” Mr Wike said.

Mr Wike added that he would like to introduce a hands-on model to the FCT vocational schools and skill acquisition centres. He said this would be in partnership with South Korea. The minister said he was impressed when he visited Samsung and noticed that sometimes, the company supplies refrigerators and cars to vocational schools for practical purposes.

Mr Young-Chae informed the minister about his country’s collaboration with the ministry of agriculture and the Rural Electrification Agency. He said the aim was to build an ongoing mini-electricity grid in the FCT. He also disclosed that South Korea plans to introduce a grant project to help young businesspeople start new businesses.

He said this was in addition to the Nigeria-Korea Model School in the FCT and other training programmes for teachers.

“In addition to that, we have launched a smart school project, one in each of the six geopolitical zones, to help innovate schools in terms of communication technology and teachers’ education,” stated Mr Young-Chae.

While hosting the Turkiye ambassador, Hidayet Bayrakter, on Monday, Mr Wike said FCT has large arable land for agricultural development. He said that collaboration with Turkiye would be beneficial for both countries.

On the Abuja metro rail line, the minister said the FCT Administration has an open-door policy and would be willing to discuss with companies from Turkey.

Mr Wike, however, appealed for a review of the Turkish visa policy, pointing out that the policy of short-term, single-entry visas may not be good enough to enhance business collaborations.

Mr Bayrakter sought the collaboration of the FCTA in constructing the second phase of the Abuja metro line system. The ambassador said Turkiye had capable construction companies with experience in rail construction and suspension bridges.

(NAN)