Petri told Nigerian news agency NAN that the exposure of young Nigerians to international education would enhance the country’s overall development.

“We really want to make younger Nigerians see the opportunities and benefits of studying in the Netherlands”

The comments were made during the second ‘Study in Holland Education Fair’ in Lagos, which was held to give young Nigerians an opportunity to interact with representatives of various Dutch institutions before making their choices.

Petri added that Dutch institutions were among the most affordable and internationally-recognised institutions in the world.

He said that studying in the Netherlands would provide young Nigerians conducive learning environment, as well as expose them to other people from different parts of the world.

“As a small country, we strongly believe that we have to have an outward orientation,” said Petri.

He said there were also employment opportunities for international students in the Netherlands immediately after their studies.

‘’We really want young Nigerians to have international orientation during and after their studies in different Dutch internationally-recognised universities and colleges,’’ he added.

Each year, students from Nigeria join more than 100,000 international students from 160 countries including Germany, China, Belgium, Italy and Spain studying in the Netherlands.

In February 2018, Michel Deleen, head of the Netherlands Representation in Lagos said that Dutch educational institutions were willing to take on more young Nigerian students, despite recent headlines talking of international student “domination” of some Dutch courses.

“We want to have closer cooperation between Dutch universities and Nigerian universities,” Deleen said.

“We really want to make younger Nigerians see the opportunities and benefits of studying in the Netherlands.”