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Nigeria may send 10 professors to Ethiopia
IN an effort at boosting the South-South Cooperation and assisting sister African countries' in the area of manpower development, Nigeria is sending 10 professors to fill vacant positions in nine recently established universities in Ethiopia.
His words: "We received the request through the Ethiopian Ambassador for 600 technical experts for the Ethiopian government. This is because Ethiopia has recently established nine new universities and they are short of staff.
"Under the South-South Cooperation Agreement and based on the peculiarities of African development scenario, Nigeria has over the years encouraged African experts to engage themselves in development situations in Africa, especially through capacity building which the university system falls under.
"When we received that request, we made it known to the Nigerian experts to consider taking up positions in Ethiopia. The idea is that it is easier for us as a country not to lose too much by having experts based here in Africa rather than in Europe or America. This is because we want to stem the tide of brain drain that we often complain of. We want to encourage brain gain and brain circulation within Africa.
"At the Directorate of Technical Cooperation, we have looked at the request and the high level of technical manpower needed and through the Nigerian Cooperation Fund, we are considering 10 professors as a catalyst for that South-South Cooperation."
Bassi added that the 600 experts requested by Ethiopia could come from other African countries. He pointed out that the 10 professors Nigeria is offering would cut across various fields.
The DTCA director-general said the opening of teaching opportunities in Ethiopia was an avenue for retired professors to re-invent their knowledge.
His words: "We should not forget that by our regulations in Nigeria when a professor reaches the age of 65, he or she ought to retire. But there are many who have attained that age and are not tired yet. Such professors, on short-term basis, can be challenged to take up positions in Ethiopia and help stabilise their system.
"This is not something new; we have done it before and our people are many in South Africa, the universities in Harare, Zambia and Tanzania. There are many Nigerian professors in these countries contributing to their development."
Contrary to the belief in some quarters that the step might deplete the Nigerian university system, Bassi said: "It is a way of improving and cross-breeding the quality of the countries university system. That is why there is sabbatical leave where lecturers are expected to go to other universities to acquire experience on how things are done in other institutions.
"By going to Ethiopia for one year or two, we are helping other African countries, but we are also exposing our own experts to other development situations in Africa, which will be helpful to our system when they come back."
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