His Excellency Ambassador Paulo martins Santos Portuguese Ambassador to Nigeria has unveiled a more proactive Educational opportunities for Nigerians to study in Portugal.
The Ambassador while delivering the 6th Special Lecture Series organized by Nasarawa State University, Keffi, (NSUK) on Wednesday, pledged to explore and propose more opportunities to his government to enable Nigerian students interested to study in Portugal to avail the available educational friendly opportunities in his country.
In the Special Lecture Series titled, “Educational Opportunities Within the Framework of Portugal-Nigeria Bilateral Relations”, the guest lecturer pointed out that the two counties have enjoyed diplomatic relationships through historical, economic, political and educational ties. He noted that with the establishment of European Studies, educational opportunities for the two countries are taken to the next level.
“Having European Studies here makes sense to interact with NSUK. Today, I will go with certainty that we can work in many different fields” he stated
According to him,Nigerian students constitute a large population of students they get from Africa who seek admissions to study in Portuguese universities.
“Today, I came here mostly to talk about educational/cultural ties, which are also very big. We have many traditional (very good) universities that have been working with Africa, especially Nigeria. So, we get more than you would imagine. Portugal is the second European country with the highest number of students from Nigeria. He said the embassy gets thousands of Nigerian students every year going for studies in Portugal, adding, the only way to identify them is through the Visa process.
According to Ambassador Santos, as a way to ensure more student have access to study in Portugal, the Portuguese Embassy in Nigeria will always prioritize the legalization process of the titles of intending students as well as visa process.
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“We recommend that as student, if you have your paperwork, just go to the Embassy and apply for visa because students are given preferential treatment.
Santos said due to historical relationship spanning over five centuries, Portuguese universities are familiar with Nigerians and ready to integrate them.
In her address, the Vice Chancellor of NSUK Professor Sa’adatu Hassan Liman informed that the choice of Ambassador Santos is due to his valuable contributions and competent leadership in fostering stronger relationships between Nigeria and Portugal,which made the university to select him as the best choice
“This Special Lecture presents the significant opportunity for us to explore the vast potentials of collaborations, partnerships and exchanges in education, research and culture between Nigeria and Portugal”, she stated.
The Vice chancellor explained that the purpose of the linkage institute is to link students and staff to many European countries which Nigeria has bilateral relationship with.
“Through the institute, staff and students will have the ample opportunity to benefit from the opportunities that are in Europe. Also, the institute can educate students and other diplomatic members of the society in their culture, politics and history.
“It also opens up bilateral relationship between NSUK and the European nations.
“As you can see, the head of the delegation of European Nations visited nasarawa state university.he delivered a lecture. The Ambassador of Poland was also here and now we are having the Ambassador of Portugal. We will continue to explore other Ambassadors of the European nations” the VC stated.
It would be recalled that the Portuguese empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and year 1999,in conjunction with the Spanish empire,it ushered in the European age of discovery.it achieved a global scale,controlling vast portions of the Americans,Africa and various Islands in Asia and oceania.
Portuguese was one of the most powerful empires of the early modern period.