Director General of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps, Rt.Hon.Yusuf Buba Yakub, has said that Nigeria will continue to draw from its pool of abundant human resources to assist the development of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and their people.
The DG, made this known on Saturday in Abuja at a reception to welcome Volunteers of the TAC Scheme, who had completed their two-year service in Uganda and The Gambia.
He said one of the primary benefits of the Scheme was to share the rare knowledge and experience the Volunteers bring from the countries in which they have served with other Nigerians.
While commending the 14 returned Volunteers on behalf of the Federal Government for making Mr President and Nigerians proud by pursuing part of the delivery of the Foreign Policy Objectives of the Tinubu Administration, Buba said Nigeria, outside a number of the biggest nations of the world, remains the only nation that has for nearly forty years continued to uphold the technical assistance provided to ACP countries for free.
“The United Kingdom has UK Aid; the United States also has USAID and China ,China Aid. In Nigeria here, we have the Nigerian Technical Aid. Each of the above has been used to aid the development of humanity in one area of life or another. For us, the Technical Aid Corps has been used to further South-South cooperation in almost the last forty years in over forty countries and counting.
“In the past few weeks, we have continued to make deployments to different countries of the ACP States.In the weeks ahead,we will deploy to more of these countries.These ones who have returned have made the President and all Nigerians proud as we continuously see and hear of their achievements in the places they have served.
“A few weeks ago,we had cause to visit the Caribbean.In all our interactions with officials of Government in places like Jamaica,Belize,Guyana, Barbados and the like,the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps is highly sought after and has continued to wax so strong that we have highly-placed officials of Government who have participated in the Scheme.Who knows,we could have a President tomorrow in any of these recipient countries who had also been tutored by TAC Volunteers.
“In Jamaica today, such skills as the making and using of our craft and artifacts have become commonplace. As I speak, even our local batik,Adire,has been taught to Jamaican people by a TAC Volunteer,who they do not intend that returns to Nigeria.Today,the Jamaicans have Christened their own version of “Adire” and “Jadire” and are happy to share that cultural diplomacy with Nigeria.
“Our position, therefore,is that we must continue to support our brothers in the ACP countries to be better.Even if for free or for a fee,as we at TAC are planning for skills in some areas of expertise,we will continue to deliver on the TAC mandate, seeing its benefits for the people we service and for the Volunteers that return to the country with a lot of experience and impact in our lives,” the TAC DG emphasized.
Earlier, representative of the Team Leader of the batch of Volunteers from Uganda,Prof.Airat Sulaiman,a Development Psychologist,who served at the Islamic University in Uganda,thanked the Federal Government for the opportunity to take part in the Scheme and commended the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps for performing beyond expectations in their provision of welfare and other timely logistics to their Volunteers.She also revealed that some of the Volunteers had been given employment in the Institutions they had served.
Others,who also spoke among the Volunteers,among whom were Dr.Chinwe Peace Igiri,a PhD holder in Software Engineering,and Engr.Dr Terseer Ako of the University of Jos, Plateau State,Nigeria,said the experience was worthwhile and that wherever they had served in the host countries had requested for them to be retained without first returning to Nigeria,against the terms of the TAC Scheme.
Out of the 14 Volunteers who had been awarded the Certificate of Participation in the TAC Scheme,13 returned from Uganda while only one had returned from The Gambia.
