By aliyu DANLADI
The Ukraine ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Valerii Alesandruk, says the Embassy has issued 3,670 visas to Nigerian travelers in the last two years.
Alesandruk said in Abuja on Sunday that the number of visas issued to Nigerians increased by 45 per cent in 2018.
“In 2017 we issued 1,642 visas to Nigerians going to Ukraine; among these we have 821 visas for students that wanted to study in the Ukraine.
“In the last ten months of 2018 we had already issued 2,028 visas to Nigerians and among them we have 1,193 student visas.
“Currently, we have more than 4000 Nigerians studying various courses in Ukraine.
“This is good for our cooperation as young people from Nigeria go to Ukraine to study medicine and ICT high tech, among others.
According to him, the number of people seeking visa to Ukraine has increased by 45 per cent, adding that the country is making efforts to make it more stable.
He said that Ukraine would enhance its bilateral relations with Nigeria especially in the area of education and defence, technology, among others.
“Education is vital in the country and Ukraine is a good destination for young Nigerians to study.
“Other areas that we want to improve is the military cooperation and also very promising is the cooperation in space technology.
“Ukraine is very good at space technology and Nigeria is a big country in the continent that needs to develop its space sector.
“Nigeria needs to establish itself and launch more into the space and become hub for Africa in space development,” the ambassador said.
He said that Nigeria and Ukraine had cooperation in the frame of international organisations and Nigeria had supported Ukraine in some instances.
“On March 2014 Ukraine became an object of international discussion and Nigeria supported Ukraine.
“Ukraine on its part also supported Nigeria in the course of fighting the Boko Haram insurgency.
“ Ukraine was among the few countries which supported Nigeria in the supply of military weapons to fight the insurgents,” Alesandruk said.
