The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC), Rt. Hon. Yusuf Buba Yakub, said the agency has deployed over 10,000 Nigerian professionals abroad since its inception.

Hon. Yakub said this at a media interaction on Thursday in Abuja, where he presented the agency’s achievements and outlined its strategic direction for the future.

According to him, NTAC, established in 1987, remains an important instrument of Nigeria’s foreign policy and soft-power diplomacy.

He said Nigerian professionals were deployed to more than 40 countries across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The professionals have contributed in areas including medicine, education, engineering, agriculture, law, science and technology, he noted.

The Director-General said NTAC’s activities under the present administration are aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s 4-D Foreign Policy framework — Democracy, Development, Demography and Diaspora, while his administration at NTAC is driven by a 3-R Agenda of Repositioning, Retooling and Re-engineering the Corps for greater efficiency and service delivery.

Yakub identified the revitalisation of the Technical Aid Corps Scheme as one of the major achievements of the administration, noting that the Corps has sustained the deployment and return of Nigerian professionals serving in partner countries.

He said the welfare of volunteers has also received increased attention through improved arrangements for allowances, deployment, monitoring, debriefing and reintegration.

While noting that Nigeria is a major contributor to the sustainable development goals, he said Nigerian volunteers have made valuable contributions to education, healthcare, engineering, law and agriculture.

He cited instances of Nigerian professionals attaining senior positions in institutions abroad, including universities and legal establishments.

Yakub described the volunteers as ambassadors of Nigeria, stressing that their professional conduct and contributions help strengthen Nigeria’s image and diplomatic relations with partner countries.

According to him, “Diplomacy is not conducted only in conference rooms. Sometimes, diplomacy is a Nigerian doctor attending to a patient in another African country. It is also a Nigerian lecturer standing before students in a foreign university, or an engineer helping to solve a development challenge,” he said.

On international partnerships, Yakub said that NTAC was strengthening Nigeria’s South-South Cooperation agenda by promoting knowledge-sharing and mutually beneficial partnerships with countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

He disclosed that the Corps was also exploring structured and dignified skilled-labour mobility programmes through which countries requiring Nigerian expertise could engage qualified Nigerian professionals.

He cited interest from Jamaica in engaging hundreds of Nigerian professionals as an indication of the international demand for Nigerian skills. (Daily Trust)