THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
The Lagos State Government has promised to bring Nigerians in Diaspora from around the world to the state to support capacity in education and youth development and empowerment.
This was stated by the Senior Special Assistant (SSA), to the Governor of Lagos State on Diaspora Affairs, Mr Jermaine Sanwo-Olu, while declaring open a 2-day teachers training programme for teachers in the state organized by the Association of Nigerian Academics in UK, which took place last week in Surulere.
The programme, for teachers in the three local council development areas in Surulere, was carried with the support of the councils as well as the Nigeria Union of Teachers.
Sanwo-Olu said the state was going to use the knowledge, intellect, exposure and experience from other parts of the world through Nigerians in the Diaspora for the development of the state.
“I believe that the Diaspora is what will hasten the development of Lagos State through the wind of change; so in moving forward we are going to be bringing in more people – doctors, nurses, teachers and others – from around the world to come and impact the state voluntarily.
“This is the season of change, we are bringing the world to Lagos so that we can have world best practices,” he said. “We believe that the Diaspora is the wheel of progress for Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole; nations like Israel, India even China utilize the power of the Diaspora to bring about changes in their respective nations.
According to Sanwo-Olu, education and technology is at the heart of the governor’s ‘THEME’ programme, adding that “you can’t have education without being digitalised in technology information.
“Information is power, but information is maximised when it is utilised, maximise the information you receive here by utilising it, use it, and with what is going on now you cannot be analogue teachers any more. “You need to digitalise, leverage on the power of technology to make your work better, more efficient, be IT and computer savvy, use the newest technology so that you can appeal to the various learning styles of young people,” he advised the participants.
Speaking with the press, President of Nigerian Academics in UK, Adedamola Aminu, said the whole idea was to work together with “our professional colleagues in Nigeria, we just want to know what we are doing well in UK that we can share with fellow colleagues here. “We really want to work with the governments both at the federal, state and local levels in terms of how we can be of assistance and how we can give each other the needed support”, he said.
Kola Tella
