Our alumni community and network are growing day by day and have reached around 10K members. Some of the members decided to organise small groups (chapters) to keep in contact or build professional collaboration with each other. In 2022 our alumni volunteers launched 6 different new alumni groups (4 local and 2 professional) giving a chance for the members to join. In our new column, Lucky Peter Kenda introduces the Nigeria-Hungary Alumni Association in Jalingo and Abuja.
From the 1980s to the present, we have had Nigerians who studied and are still studying in Hungary with the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship or on self-sponsorship. At the early stage of the International Alumni Volunteer Programme within the Alumni Network Hungary, we saw a need to create the Nigeria-Hungary Alumni Association where all Nigerians who studied in Hungary can come together to maintain contact and interact, to strengthen their relations and network among various professions.
In setting up the new group, we discovered a registered existing group for Nigerian alumni members led by Mr. Akinwumi S. Bada with over 60 members. We realized we all belong to Alumni Network Hungary and have the same set of goals so we reached out to the old group through its chairperson to build up together the alumni chapter.
The Nigeria-Hungary Alumni Association held several meetings in 2022. The first meeting was on 7th April 2022, the second on 23rd September 2022, and the last on 17th November 2022. These meetings were all aimed at promoting unity, networking, and exploring opportunities among members. There was also a meeting with the leadership of the old alumni group to harmonize the association for effective collaboration.
Dr. Gábor KRAUSS, the economic counsellor from the Hungarian Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria also attended one of our meetings on 23rd September. He assured the alumni association, that the embassy is happy to collaborate with our association.
The goal of the Nigeria-Hungary Alumni Association is to organize meetings, and educative and entertaining events for its members ranging from webinars to training, and to create events where we can show Nigeria’s beautiful cultural heritage and diversity. The association will also seek collaboration with Nigeria's sending partners to help in giving orientation to students who wish to study in Hungary; providing them with information about Hungary and preparing them when they arrive in the country. The association will also seek greater collaboration with the Hungarian embassy in Nigeria to strengthen diplomatic ties with Hungary.
We have a Facebook group named “Nigeria-Hungary Alumni Association” with around 50 members, where we invite the alumni members to join us.