By Maureen Okon
Hon. Yusuf Yakub, the Director-General (D-G) of the Nigeria Technical Aid Corps (NTAC) has described Nigeria as a great country for sustaining its technical assistance programme for 38 years.
He said this at a debriefing excercise held for 11 Technical Aid Corps (TAC) volunteers who returned from The Gambia after completing a two-year service assignment.
He added that the initiative continues to position the country as a leader in South-South cooperation in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) countries.
The NTAC D-G said that the scheme stands side by side with similar programmes run by developed nations such as; the United States, United Kingdom and China.
“This is the only country in Africa that is sending out technical aid to ACP countries for the past 38 years and nonstop.
”As you have seen, the volunteers we are sending out for two years are really impacting the lives of our brothers and sisters in ACP countries.
He credited President Bola Tinubu’s 4D Foreign Policy”anchored on Democracy, Development, Demography, and Diaspora.
“When he came in with the 4D foreign policy initiative, it boosted and activated the technical aid programme and today it has expanded the scope and operational efficiency of the agency” he said.
The D-G further added that, Nigeria’s influence extends beyond manpower deployment.
The Director-General highlighted that institutional structures in The Gambia, including its higher education accreditation system and student loan schemes, were designed using blueprints from Nigerian bodies like the National Universities Commission (NUC)
The D-G announced that NTAC is introducing a new initiative to export Nigerian professionals abroad through government-to-government agreements, to curb illegal migration.
‘”We want to start exporting our labour with dignity instead of the “Japa” where our citizens go out there illegally and perish in the deserts and oceans.
“Instead of unguided migration where young citizens take dangerous routes, we are creating frameworks for dignified labor export. Jamaica has already requested 400 Nigerian experts under this arrangement,” he explained.
Yakub concluded that the feedback from host countries shows Nigeria’s technical aid is not just about manpower, but about building institutions and exporting Nigeria’s best practices.
Sharing their experiences with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the returning experts detailed structural improvements made within Gambian institutions.
Dr Sarah Hope-Tabira, assigned to the Gambia National Assembly, stated that she authored a modern legislative drafting guide that was formally adopted by the host parliament and judicial bodies to replace outdated legislative formats.
The volunteer team leader, Prof. Oyetunji Akinlabi, who served as Director of Research and Grants at the University of The Gambia, noted that the team formulated crucial regulatory policies governing staff discipline, research, and academic promotions.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NTAC was founded in 1987 to provide technical assistance to countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific (ACP) by sharing Nigeria’s human resource capacity.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Halima Sheji