Kokonsa is back again, but this time round, to add his voice to the current
proposal drawn by the Finnish Ministry of Interior to grant citizenship to
immigrants who have lived in Finland for a minimum of four to five years,
with the aim of attracting foreign students to stay in Finland after
graduation according to an article published in the Helsingin Sanomat.
To me it is a step in the right direction because this will not just attract
them to stay in Finland after graduation but will go a long way to help them
bring out the potential in them and the knowledge acquired through their
studies in Finland to contribute meaningfully to the Finnish economy.
My Dear readers, you will be surprised to learn today that, your humble
servant Kokonsa fully agree to this proposal because I have always wondered
why international students are allowed to leave the country immediately
after their studies.
Honestly it’s not because one is interested in staying in Finland as many
people may think, but I just wonder why students are allowed to leave
Finland to other countries after the Finnish government has spent millions
of Euros educating them. Then Finland just let them leave to another country
that has spent no penny on them, and to contribute to their economy with the
skills acquired here in Finland. It’s not news to me if it is the student's
home country since the idea of this free education was to equip us with
Finnish knowhow to develop our countries someday.
One may however wonder why Kokonsa is so much concerned about this issue! It’s
simply because even in our own home countries, where the government spent
little on us, we are still obliged to serve the country on our return with
non taxable allowance. Why not in Finland then, where a lot of money is
spent on student according to the recent 2009 Legatum prosperity index
ranking on education?
I am happy this issue is already on the drawing board and the opinion leaders
are leaving no stone unturned to bring this to a lime light.
United State of America has been trying it and it is helping them. A typical
example is an African born Ave K.Kludze, a product of John Hopkins
University, who was attracted by NASA (U.S National Aeronautics and Space
Administration) when he designed a Human locator system during his Master’s
thesis that uses nanotechnology to locate any human beings anywhere on the
planet. From the time he was given the chance, he has contributed a lot to
U.S economy and I am proud also to say that he was even among a group of
NASA engineers in 2004 that developed the Extravehicular Activity Infrared
(EVA IR) camera for space-walking astronauts for United State of America.
Most of the European countries haven't tried this and it’s now a blow to them
since they are now experiencing shortage of labour. This means that when a
rumour of a sound enters your ear, you have to imitate an action of a tiger.
It is not granting citizenship to immigrants like me that I am jubilating over
it. Well, everyone and his thought, but I strongly believe that many foreign
students will be happy if they can contribute their quota to the country
that has molded them into the person they are today.
Even though this proposal is in the pipeline but I will still call on
stakeholders to work hand in hand with the Ministry so that with one accord
they work towards a common destiny to help implement the proposal because
it’s not a bad idea at all.
Shalom!
