The Committee set up to reposition the Directorate of Technical Aid Corps to align the mandate and programmes of the Agency with the foreign policy components of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda has over the weekend wound up its activities in Abuja.
Speaking while receiving the Report of the Committee from its Chairman, the Director-General of the Agency, Rt.Hon.( Dr.) Yusuf Buba Yakub, thanked members of the Committee for working round the clock to meet the deadline set for the project.
He noted that the Committee could not have delivered on the expectations of the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb.Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and those of the Management of DTAC without the high sense of commitment and the collective zeal for results, which each of its members demonstrated all through the duration of the assignment.
He said: “Against what has become a sad practice in this country,where very beautiful and well-crafted Reports suffer the ugly fate of being abandoned on the shelves of various offices across the land, I want to assure you, Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies, that this piece of work to which you have given your all in the past five days, will see the light of day.
“Conscious of what we intend to achieve with this in the promotion of His Excellency, our dear President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, I shall in the next few days and weeks personally ensure that the recommendations that this august Committee has put forward are quickly conveyed to all the various stakeholders of this Agency for their consideration and likely inputs.”
Earlier, while presenting the Report, Chairman of the Committee, Prof. Yusuf Zoaka, expressed the hope that the commitment of the members of the team, drawn from various professions, including Law, Diplomacy, Finance as well as Administration and Security, would deliver on the expectations of the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Management of the Agency.
The University don thanked the Directorate for the opportunity given to him and members of the Committee to serve the nation through the Agency.
He once again aligned himself with the position of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Tuggar, who had told the Committee during its inauguration a few days earlier that the DTAC had enormous roles to play in the actualisation of President Tinubu’s 4-D Foreign Policy Agenda itemized as: Democracy, Development Demography and the Diaspora.
Also speaking, a Professor of Law at the Federal University, Lokoja, Daniel Friday Atidoga, who once served in the TAC Scheme as a Volunteer, said he was, particularly, impressed with the quality of the deliberations of the Committee in which he was also a member.
He said, having had a personal experience of the TAC Scheme as a participant years ago, he was highly persuaded that the mandate and structure of the Agency as they exist at the moment ought to be reviewed to reflect newer realities. He thanked the Management of the Agency for giving him the opportunity to contribute his thoughts to the review process.
Among other members of the Committee, who made contributions in support of earlier speakers were Amb. Ijeoma Bristol, a retired Ambassador of the Federal Republic; Amb. Sani Bako, a former Director of Programmes at DTAC, and Ms Mitchell Mamnyer Nyagba from the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja.
It will be recalled that the Committee was inaugurated by the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Tuggar, early last week and was given the task of looking through the TAC Documents, including its Handbook and the Act that established the Agency to work out a review that would align with the vision of President Tinubu’s 4-D Foreign Policy initiatives.
Members of the Committee included:
i.Prof. Y.F. Zoaka- Chairman
ii.Prof. D. F. Atidoga Member
iii. Amb. Ijeoma Bristol -Member
iv. Amb. Sani Bako, MFR, mni- Member
v. Dr. Louis Solomon, mni-Member
vi. Dr. Sani Adamu -Member
vii. Hon.Jimoh Olajide-Member
viii.Ms Mitchell Nyagba – Member
ix. Mr. Ahmed Mohammed Tilde-Member
x. Mr Suleiman A. M-Member
