[NYTr] Drinking from Cuba’s fountain of knowledge (The Tide, Nigeria)

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

The Tide News (Nigeria) - Dec 31, 2007
http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qrDate=12/31/2007&qrTitle=Drinking%20from%20Cuba%E2%80%99s%20fountain%20of%20knowledge&qrColumn=ISSUES

Drinking from Cuba’s fountain of knowledge

by Danazumi

In September 2000, 100 Nigerians left the country to study medicine in
Cuba on the base of South-South cooperation.

Exactly seven years late, in September 2007, the doctors returned home,
having completed their studies.

One of them, Dr Chukwuemeka Nzelu, emerged the overall best graduate in
the school, while 32 others had first class.

Twenty-five of those who had first class are going back to Cuba for
their post-graduate studies.

Cuba began to receive youths on study from all continents in 1961, two
years after the revolution that brought Dr Fidel Castro to power.

According to Mr Elio Oliva, the Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, more than
50,000 foreign students have graduated from Cuban educational
institutions since then.

He says the scholarship programme of Cuba provides free, high-level
professional training to students from the Third World, more than 70
per cent of whom come from Africa.

The programme is funded 100 per cent by the Cuban government, while
benefiting countries are responsible only for the upkeep allowances of
their students.

Oliva further explains that grants cover all expenses for a six-year
university course apart from transportation to and from Cuba.

The best all-round foreign students apply for Master’s degrees which
are totally free.

According to the ambassador, one of the conditions for granting
scholarship to foreign students is that they must return to their
countries once they complete their studies.

“This guarantees that their countries will benefit from their
professional training in areas of scientific and technological
development most important to them,” he says.

Oliva notes that such assistance is the basis of the cultural
cooperation with the other countries.

“Cuba has no need to drain professionals from other countries,” he adds.

To ensure that Cuban university degrees are recognised, the country has
signed more than 3,000 cooperation agreements with prestigious academic
institutions throughout the world.

“The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs negotiates with governments to
guarantee full recognition of studies in Cuba.

“However, in some countries such as the U.S. and Nigeria, students have
to revalidate their university degrees in order to practise their
professions,” the ambassador says.

He adds that no fewer than 200 Nigerians are currently studying in Cuba
in such fields as engineering and sports.

Last week, the Cuban Embassy in Nigeria organised a reception for 100
Nigerians who have just returned from Cuba.

Oliva said on the occasion that the doctors were among the best
students in terms of their dedication and seriousness to studies.

The doctors equally constituted the largest contingent of one single
career.

The ambassador explained that before the government created an
International School of Medicine, Cuba was sending close to 700 doctors
to many countries annually.

“But at one point we decided to introduce this scholarship programme to
train manpower for other countries.”

Oliva expressed the hope that having studied in Cuba for many years,
the doctors would be good ambassadors of Cuba in Nigeria.

“When you were in Cuba during your studies, you were ambassadors of
your country Nigeria; but now that you have completed your studies and
are back home, I hope you will be good ambassadors of Cuba.

“You are in a better position to educate other Nigerians about the
realities of Cuba, its people and government, its successes and the
hardship facing its people as a result of an unjust embargo,” he said.

Oliva advised the doctors to keep in touch with and assist one another.

“In fact, you should see yourselves as belonging to one family. You
should feel free to relate with the embassy and we will not deny you
the privilege.”

Responding on behalf of others, Dr Sylvanus Ovat thanked the embassy
for the reception.

“What the embassy had done for us today is what we expect the
Scholarship Board or the Ministry of Education to have done by
organising a welcome party for us,” he said.

Ovat expressed the hope that the Federal Government would given them a
role to play in national development and urged his colleagues to bring
their achievements to bear in any national assignment.

“This is crucial so that our government will know that we did not go to
Cuba to waste our time,” he said.

The father of one of the doctors, Dr Godfrey Edozie, a Director in the
Bureau for Public Service Reform in the Presidency, said it was a great
thing for the embassy to have brought the doctors together.

Edozie, who said he had worked with the Federal Ministry of Education
for 19 years, recalled that he spoke with the student-doctors in 2000
before they left for Cuba.

“The Cuban government had done wonderfully well for you. You have got a
springboard to take off in life,” he said.

Another parent, Pastor S.C. Onyeoziri, thanked the Cuban and federal
governments for the opportunity given to the Nigerians to study in Cuba.

He advised the doctors to form an association with the aim of making
Nigeria a better place than they met it.

“Nigeria is our country; we cannot run away from it. Everybody has a
destiny to fulfill in making it a better place.”

One of the doctors, Dr Ahmed Umar, said he was very proud to have been
given the opportunity to study in Cuba.

“I never thought of studying medicine. I am from a poor family and I
lost my father at the age of 14. Medicine is a very expensive career
and demands huge financial support.

“But the Cuban government gave me the opportunity to study medicine
without paying a single kobo.

“It was a great experience. I learnt Spanish language; I read really
hard and I graduated with a first class degree,” he said.

Another doctor, Hajarat Ololu, said: “I don’t regret studying medicine
in Cuba, being a country where every citizen is important; a country
with very little yet generous to all, irrespective of colour,
nationality or culture.

“With the knowledge Cuba imparted in me, I know I can stand with my
head up anywhere I find myself. Viva Cuba, Viva la Revolution, Viva
Fidel!”

On his part, Dr Basira Lateef, described Cuba as a small tree in front
of a forest, providing shelter for the needy more than what the bigger
trees that make up the forest can offer.

“We learnt a lot in Cuba and Nigeria as a country has a lot to learn
from Cuba,” the doctor said.

“Cuba is a great nation where everyone would like to be because of the
favourable disposition of the people to visitors.

“We studied in a stress-free atmosphere but there were a lot of
challenges such as learning the language and eating their food.”

Another doctor, Babatunde Adeboye, said; “I wish Nigeria will be as
organised as Cuba to make it a better place to live in.”

His colleague, Dr Fatima Haruna, described her experience thus: “It was
a humanitarian experience because there is Cuba, they think more about
the patients rather than the financial gains.”

For Dr Oloruntomigbekele Fashina, Cuba was an excellent experience
because lecturers paid more attention to students as learning took
place in smaller groups.

Others who spoke were full of praise for the government and people of
Cuba for what they described as “their wonderful hospitality.”

Back home, it is expected that these doctors, having drawn from Cuba’s
hospitality and fountain of knowledge, will contribute in no small
measure to the rapid development of their fatherland.