Lagos – The German Consul-General in Lagos, Mr Ingo Herbert, has urged Nigerian leaders to intensify efforts in equipping the teeming youths with quality education at all levels. He made the call on the sidelines of the official launch of an NGO called SJJ Education on Tuesday in Lagos.

SJJ Education is a German Education NGO for international students. Herbert said that one of the ways to ensure quality education in youths was to use substantial portion of recovered funds allegedly stolen by public officials in ensuring free tuition across all levels. The envoy added that for any country to attain accelerated development and growth, it must invest massively in the education of its citizens. German envoy, Ingo Herbert He added that “education is a critical and potent weapon in the empowerment of any individual.

“In October 2014 for example, the German Government took the step to completely scrap tuition fees in all public universities which allowed international students to study in universities free. “With this arrangement, we had in 2014, about 2.7 million university students studying free with about 300,000 of them foreigners.

“This German policy on education, particularly the higher education, is made free for everyone, irrespective of nationality.” The Chairman of SJJ Education, Mr Saturday Jackson, said that the purpose of the launch of the NGO was to create more awareness on its activities. Jackson said that the NGO, which commenced operations in 2012, had so far assisted 200 Nigerian students to travel to Germany to further their education.

He added that “our job basically is to package all the education needs and travel requirements for students who genuinely show interest in studying in Germany. “We serve as a bridge between German universities and students in Nigeria by screening and vetting these candidates for these universities. “As Germany opens up to international students, many of her institutions now offer courses and programmes entirely in English language.

“This means Nigerian students can take up Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees, as well as PhDs and Research Fellowships without a prior study on German language.” Meanwhile, the Head of Visa section of the Consul-General, Mr Sebastian Polzin, said visa would be issued to only students with genuine proof of going to study in Germany. He said that the only reason why some intending students were denied visa was when they fail to meet up with laid down requirements as stated by the law.

Photo caption: Consul-General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Lagos, Mr Ingo Herbert( middle) ; Chairman/ CEO SJJ Education, Mr. Saturday Jackson( 3rd left) and Managing Director SJJ Education, Mr. Andrew Jason( 3rd right) and other staff of the organisation during the Tuition-free German Education summit held at Four Points by Sheraton, Victoria Island Lagos yesterday.