Katsina state government has prepared the second batch of sixty- eight indigenous students to go to China to pursue degree program on Artificial intelligence and Bio-technology .
In a farewell address to the departing students held at Presidential Banquet hall, Government house Katsina, Governor Dikko Radda urged them to be good ambassadors worthy of pride to the state and Nigeria in general.
The thirty- four local government areas of the state produced one candidate each for Bio technology and Artificial intelligence, making two students per local government.
The Governor said selection criteria for the candidates from public secondary schools remain the same with that of the first batch who undergo competence examination before going to Egypt to pursue degree on medicine.
Governor Radda remarked that the state government selected the two courses based on the pressing man power needs in some critical sectors of the state.
He said the foreign scholarship is a joint venture between the state government and the thirty four local government areas.
The Governor maintained that Government had paid in full all the academic requirements of the students including their tuition fees, accomodations, heath insurance, monthly upkeep and book allowance apart from the traveling documents.
While appealing to parents of the students to maintain regular contacts with them (the students) to have update on the performance of their children Governor Radda threatened that any student who fails to excel academically would be replaced.
Earlier in an address of welcome, the chairman, coordinating committee on foreign scholarship program who is also the state deputy governor, Mallam Faruq Jobe said the students were carefully selected after each of them underwent merit-based examination and that of computer as well as police screening.
All these, he said was to ensure that only competent students with good moral conducts are recommended for the foreign scholarship.
Also speaking, chairman ALGON who is also the chairman of Kaita local government, Engineer Bello Lawal Yandaki said the unique opportunity given to the talented students from less privileged families would put Katsina state on the map of most developed states in the country, assuring the students of the association’s support.
Two of the parents, Mallam Lawal Sani Wanzam and Shitu Dodo from Batagarawa and Malumfashi local governments respectively,expressed gratitude to the state government for the un-biased and unique access to quality education to their children under the foreign scholarship.
The students who spoke through Musa Abubakar from Dan-musa local government and Hafsat Hamisu from Jibia local government expressed gratitude to Governor Radda for the rare and life changing opportunities given to them and promised to be a pride to their families, the state and the nation in general.