…beneficiaries hail intervention

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – IN a bid to boost human capacity development, 20 Nigerians, yesterday, received scholarships from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, in partnership with the Kakehashi Africa-Nigeria Initiative, KANI, for Master’s degrees and internships under the African Business Education, ABE, Initiative.

The Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Suzuki Hideo, in a remark said the programme is a reflection of Japan’s strong commitment to Africa, particularly, Nigeriaamd also in accordance with the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD.

Speaking at the orientation and send-forth ceremony in Abuja, Japan’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Suzuki Hideo, said the programme reflects Japan’s strong commitment to Africa, especially Nigeria, in line with the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).

He said: “It is not just a ceremony; it is a celebration of dreams, hard work and the beginning of a transformative journey,” he said.

“As you embark on your studies, remember you are not just students but ambassadors – the Kakehashi, or bridge between Nigeria and Japan.”

Meanwhile, according the Chief Representative, JICA Nigeria, Yuzurio Susumu, the essence of the scholarships is to basically build quality and qualified human resource including consolidating on both countries’ socio-economic ties.

“This year, 20 participants will benefit, with most programmes lasting two years, while doctoral candidates will study for three years.

“The scheme is fully sponsored by the Japanese Government and JICA,” Susumu said.

Senior, Representative,
JICA, Yamamoto Tetsuya, explained that the initiative basically focuses on agriculture, energy, health sectors including the private sector development, which they serve as a catalyst to Nigeria’s sustainable growth and development.

Also speaking, one of the beneficiaries, Mahfuza Adamu Abubaker applauded JICA for the opportunity saying it is a great opportunity for her and other beneficiaries to achieve every dream in their pursuit and become the best of themselves.

“I am a town-planner at Federal Capital Development Authority with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and I work there as a senior town planning officer.

“I am also an ABE scholar with JICA. JICA is a Japan International Corporation Agency.

“It is a company that is under the mandate of the Japanese government and has a bilateral relationship with Nigeria and a lot of other African countries to provide opportunities for young Africans to pursue their studies under the Sustainable Development Goals and other areas that we have challenges here within Nigeria, be able to gather knowledge over there in Japan and bring it back to Nigeria for the purpose of knowledge sharing, implementation of land strategies and
various technologies that are being utilized there in Japan.

” I would say would be very impactful to each and every scholar because I once had the opportunity to be in Japan in 2023, where I was trained on the comprehensive course on comprehensive city planning.

And there I was able to gather a lot of knowledge. And this, I would say, is like a continuation of what I did when I went there in 2023. But this time around, I would be pursuing a master’s studies in global and regional development studies.

My main focus would be majorly on disaster, which is flood disaster, which is one of the major disasters we face here in Nigeria. And I would be leveraging mobile spatial statistics and GIS for disaster prevention and urban planning in Nigeria.

“Lugbe and Lukogoma districts of Abuja here in Nigeria and this would be an opportunity for me because Japan is one of the countries that face disaster risk but their disasters are not the same with us here in Nigeria.

“Japan has really gone advanced and far with technologies that are helping to mitigate and solve this kind of challenges, so my plan is to acquire this knowledge and hopefully bring it back to see how an action plan would one day be implemented to solve this kind of challenges that we have in Nigeria. I would say a big thank you for JICA. In fact, anytime I hear the name JICA, I feel like it’s home.

“They are very helpful, they are very resourceful. When you go on a training that is sponsored by JICA, your mindset would shift. You would have a change in how you conduct yourself, how you do things.

“You would have access to limited resources and you would just be able to achieve your full potential, I would say,so it’s a wonderful initiative that started years back and I’m glad that they are actually building on it”, she said.