Dr Yusuf Yakub, Director-General of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC), says the agency has deployed no fewer than 10,000 professionals to over 40 countries since its inception.
Yakub said this in Abuja on Tuesday during the deployment of 18 TAC volunteers to Liberia and Rwanda.
He said he was pleased to deploy doctors, teachers, and instructors to support Nigeria’s soft power diplomacy under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.
Yakub thanked the volunteers for accepting the national call, stressing that the mission aligned with the president’s 4-D foreign policy thrust; Democracy, Development, Demography, and Diaspora.
“I am delighted to deploy you this morning to Rwanda and Liberia to serve as ambassadors of our country.
“All of this is made possible through the 4-D foreign policy of President Tinubu, which has revived and repositioned the Technical Aid Corps for greater global impact,” he added.
He noted that Tinubu’s foreign policy direction had enabled NTAC to carry out deployments as often as three times a month, boosting Nigeria’s global presence and diplomatic ties.
“President Tinubu’s passion for soft power diplomacy has made Nigeria a bride to many nations globally. He believes in using knowledge and skills to strengthen regional cooperation,” he said.
Yakub expressed gratitude to the President for backing NTAC, which now served as a tool for projecting Nigeria’s values in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific (ACP) countries.
“NTAC is the key instrument of soft power diplomacy, enabling us to share our human capital through technical aid with fellow black nations in the ACP regions,” Yakub stated.
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He emphasised that Nigeria, blessed with rich human resources, should export expertise to sister countries, rather than seeking foreign assistance for what it already possessed.
According to him, the deployments are designed to help bridge both educational and professional gaps in these nations, promoting south-south cooperation and development.
Earlier, Amb. Zakari Usman, Director of Programmes at NTAC, hailed the D-G’s commitment to putting Nigeria on the global stage through consistent deployment of volunteers.
He also commended Tinubu for intensifying the deployment initiative and urged the volunteers to represent Nigeria honourably in their host countries.
Prof. Solomon Ogbu, Team Lead of the volunteers and a professor of International Relations, applauded the President’s sustained support for the soft power initiative.
He thanked the D-G for the rare opportunity to serve Nigeria abroad, pledging that the team would raise the national flag high and make the country proud. (NAN)
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