Major General, Lee In-Tae, South Korean Ambassador to Nigeria said his country’s education investment brought economic growth.
”South Korea recovered from 35-years of Japan’s colonialism and 3-years war through investment in education,” he said.
Lee In-Tae similarly urged Nigerian universities to improve in research. He said: “quality research will lead to high-quality human resources as well as national economic development.
”’Nigeria will achieve great national development by investing in education through adequate funding.”
Lee In-Tae said that his country had moved from being one of the poorest in the world to the 11th in terms of GDP and eight in export.
He explained that the progress was due to the emphasis placed on research and education in South Korean.
. Ambassador Lee In-Tea said this during a public lecture at the University of Jos. Delivering a paper titled: “Growing the Nigerian Economy through Education: The South Korean Model”, said Nigeria could do same.
Nigeria could do the same like South Korea to overcome its challenges, he said.
Lee In-Tae said after 35 years of colonialism by Japan and three years of war between 1950 and 1951, his country was in ruined. ”But had moved to simple manufacturing to heavy industry and now ICT,” he explained.
“From the year 2000, Korean high tech firms had outperformed Japanese firms especially in areas of television, phones and memory productions.
”There is a relationship between education and economic development. Korea has a 92 per cent High school graduation with a 3.7 per cent unemployment rate. Aand 9.4 per cent youth unemployment level,” he said.
