From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
The Confucius Institute of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, has successfully recommended 3,800 of its alumni for employment by different Chinese firms in Nigeria. Also, 400 alumni who successfully graduated from the Institute have won scholarships for further studies in China.
Director of the Institute, Prof. Yu Chukwudi Zhangbao, broke the cheering news yesterday while receiving winners of the Chinese Bridge Competition Junior Category from the Institute, who excelled in the competition organised for the secondary school level students.
This was barely a month after the UNIZK Confucius Institute won the 2021 Chinese Bridge competition for Nigerian university students.
Zhangbao said the institute, apart from oiling the bilateral relations between China and Nigeria, has contributed immensely in breaking language barriers and facilitated trade, commerce and economic growth for both countries.
He said the Chinese Bridge Competition, organised by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, was for students of the Institute and their affiliated centres. He disclosed that Unizik currently has seven of such centres(at the Federal Polytechnic, Oko; Unizik High School; Unizik Primary School; Enugu State College of Education (Technical), Enugu; Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu; Uniport and Chinese Cultural Centre, Abuja). In the competition, the two contestants presented by CI-Unizik took the first two positions. Miss Ogbonna Oluchi Emmanuella took the first position, while Master Afioma Chidozie took the second position.
The two students will represent Nigeria at the world championship scheduled to hold in China this year.
“CI-Unizik has won this competition consecutively for four years. During the period, it has won each of the two categories of the Chinese Bridge competition three times (a combined total of six wins).