In this brief encounter with Political Economist in Budapest, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Hungary, His Excellency Muhammadu Yunusa says Nigeria has highest number of international students in the University of Debrecen, Hungary’s best university. He also spoke about strategies to attract Hungarian investments to Nigeria. Excerpts.
Nigerians in Hungary
Yes we have a significant number of Nigerians here; we have 3,000 Nigerians legally resident here in Hungary. We also have many students. For example, in the University of Debrecen we have 700 Nigerian students and most of them are medical students who are being sponsored by their parents, not by the government.
Studying medicine in Hungary?
The University of Debrecen is one of the best medical schools in the world; that’s why when you go there for medical sciences you see a lot of Americans, Britons, etc. in that school but Nigeria has the highest population, followed by Brazil.
Nigerians doing business in Hungary
Most of the Nigerians here are into petty trading, and I’m happy to inform you that I don’t have much consular problems with them; they’re law abiding and go about their legitimate business. I have no problem with the Nigerians here.
Nigeria/Hungary relationship
The relations are good but in terms of balance of trade, it is in favour of Hungary but we are trying as much as possible to see that even if it will not be in our favour, at least it’s at par. We’re trying to get Hungarians to invest in Nigeria because the opportunities are too many. That is why we have been talking to them about opportunities in infrastructure, telecoms, renewable energy, waste management etc.
Immigrant Crisis
On the issue of migrant crisis, Nigeria has a good report because quite unlike some countries whose citizens have constituted themselves to some form of public nuisance, Nigeria has no such report. We have maintained a very good cordial relationship with Hungary and we will continue to do so.
Investors and Investment
We have been talking and interacting with different investment groups in Hungary on why they should invest in Nigeria. Some of them are well aware of the peaceful transition that happened in Nigeria; they are aware of the change mantra; they are aware of the fact that Nigeria guarantees safety of investment and high return on investment. I am sure that very soon we shall begin to see movement of high level investors from Hungary to Nigeria.
It’s true. Debrecen looks like africa and not europe. Too much “blackness”