9th August, 2017
The South Korea International Alumni in Nigeria on Wednesday sought the cooperation of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to develop initiatives towards national development.
President of the alumni, Mr Ntufam Ugbo made this known when he led a team on a courtesy visit to Mr Bayo Onanuga, Managing Director, NAN in Abuja on Wednesday.
For this, Ugbo, told the managing director that the alumni would hold its annual meeting aimed at coming up with recommendations that would impact policies and enhance development in the country.
“Today we have a membership of more than 1000 members and these are people who have been sponsored by the South Korean Government for one capacity building programme or the other.
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“We have noticed that despite the huge numbers that have benefited from these programmes, the publicity as to what this agency (KOICA) is doing is very low.
“We think it is not good enough because they are here to partner with Nigeria, build capacity of Nigerians in every sphere and they have country specific programmes.
“Most of these programmes are fully paid for; having these pool of people, we need to come together annually to discuss affairs of the association and how much of the knowledge acquired is being implemented,” he said.
He said the association served as a pressure group to ensure that the country benefited from the knowledge acquired from the training programmes.
“The world is a global village and we should be able to integrate what we learn into our own system.”
In his response, Onanuga who was represented by Mr Yusuf Zango, Editor-in-Chief, said it was pertinent to promote the cooperation between Nigeria and South Korea.
The managing director also assured of the agency’s support to the association.
“Your association is a welcome one because they maintain a strong link between Nigeria and South Korea.
“We need to develop that south-south cooperation because this is one of the major economies of the world and I believe your association will further enhance that cooperation,” he said.