NTAC Deploys Over 10,000 Nigerians To 40 Countries As FG Pushes Stronger Public Diplomacy
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The Federal Government has called for stronger public diplomacy to increase Nigerians’ awareness of the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC), as the agency revealed it has deployed more than 10,000 Nigerian professionals to over 40 countries since its establishment.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, made the call in Abuja while receiving the Director-General of NTAC, Hon. Yusuf Buba Yakub, and members of the agency’s management team, the Ministry’s Spokesperson, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, said in a statement on Sunday.
Enikanolaiye said the Ministry was undertaking broad reforms to align Nigeria’s diplomacy with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the administration’s 4-D foreign policy doctrine – Demography, Democracy, Development and Diaspora.
He noted that despite the extensive work being done by the Ministry and NTAC, many Nigerians remained unaware of their contributions, stressing that visibility must now match performance.
The minister therefore advocated a deliberate and adequately funded communication strategy to ensure the public is better informed about Nigeria’s diplomatic engagements and development cooperation initiatives.
Providing an update on the agency’s operations, NTAC Director-General Yusuf Buba Yakub said the Corps, established in 1987, has become a major instrument of Nigeria’s soft power diplomacy through the deployment of skilled professionals to countries across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
According to him, NTAC currently has 274 volunteers serving in 13 countries, including 69 volunteers in The Gambia, 34 in Zanzibar, 30 in Uganda, 28 in Rwanda, 26 in Liberia, 23 in Sierra Leone, 17 in Guinea-Bissau, 16 in St. Kitts and Nevis, 15 in Benin Republic, six in Jamaica, five in Seychelles, three in Grenada and two in Equatorial Guinea.
He explained that the volunteers are engaged in critical sectors such as education, health, engineering, agriculture, ICT and public administration, with assignments tailored to the developmental needs of host countries under bilateral agreements.
Yakub said the programme has produced significant results, with some former volunteers rising to senior academic positions, including vice-chancellors and deputy vice-chancellors in foreign universities, while an NTAC volunteer was appointed to lead Sierra Leone’s COVID-19 response.
The NTAC chief also disclosed that the agency was expanding its footprint, with agreements being pursued with Zambia, Ethiopia, Angola, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados, while Jamaica is considering the recruitment of a large number of Nigerian health professionals under a fully funded arrangement.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Dunoma Umar Ahmed, proposed reforms such as digital volunteer management, virtual technical assistance, diaspora integration, youth-focused technical diplomacy and stronger monitoring mechanisms to improve the agency’s effectiveness.
