*To Study Swedish Experiences
Towards giving Nigerian youths strong technological base from early stage, the Federal Ministry of Education is under-studying the Swedish experiences and expertise to introduce technology and skill learnings in primary schools.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamann, gave the hint on Tuesday while receiving the Sweden Ambassador in Nigeria, Annika Hahn - Englung, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja.
According to him, the Ministry of Education is already focusing on it as it wants children from early stage to imbibe technology and skill learnings and grow up with it.
He said "One of the things the Ministry is focusing on is to bring technology and skill to our education system right from very early stage of education.
"We will be looking at your experiences and see how to draw from it. We want our children to start learning technology and skills from primary schools so that they can grow with it.
"So, I will like to leverage on your experiences and expertise in that regard." he added.
The Minister also pointed out that learning in ones mother tongue is good and it will make students to understand better.
He expressed delight that a number of Swedish companies are already existing in Nigeria with a lot of them in the education field.
The Minister also noted that there are quite a number of other areas where Sweden is active in Nigeria.
Stressing that Nigerian students in Sweden have been well behaved over the years, he appreciated the scholarship Nigerian students have been enjoying from Sweden.
The Minister said Nigeria is looking forward to more of such scholarship opportunities for Nigerian students.
Declaring that there is so much Nigeria and Sweden can share and work together, he said, that the two countries can boost the cooperation and bilateral relation existing by looking at new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
"I understand there is a draft, we will call for it, work on it and forward it to your Excellency. It is good for our countries" he stated.
Speaking earlier, the Sweden Ambassador in Nigeria sought for more cooperation with Nigeria in the field of education.
Stressing that Sweden has a good number of companies already in Nigeria, she said, they have been growing here.
"We have to see how we can work together. It is very nice to have the opportunity to discuss this," she said.
Noting that many Nigerian students have been studying in Sweden, she said, they have been very competitive too.
Giving a vote of thanks, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Didi Walson-jack, said Nigeria has very rich bilateral relationship with Sweden in education.
"I am delighted today that you are here to cement that relationship.
"We hope this discussion will translate to very laudable outcome and we want to appreciate your coming," she stated.