…As Nigeria Deploys 16 TAC Volunteers to Rwanda, Uganda
President Bola Tinubu is passionate in bridging both the educational and professional gap in African, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) countries, an official has said.
The Director-General, Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC), said this on Thursday during a deployment exercise for 16 Technical Aid Corps Volunteers (TAC) to be deployed to Republic of Rwanda and Republic of Uganda in East Africa.
The reports have it that the exercise is a pre-departure orientation for the TAC volunteers who are scheduled for a 24-month biennial scheme in Rwanda and Uganda under the service of NTAC as soft power diplomacy.
Yakub said that NTAC was working assiduously to meet the expectations of the President in projecting the foreign policy through soft power diplomacy to the ACP countries.
“The volunteers are expected to project and promote Nigeria as the giant of Africa and the only country in Africa that offers soft power diplomacy to its brothers and sisters.
“We are also meeting up with Mr President’s 4D agenda which are: Development, Democracy, Demography and Diaspora.
“Also in terms of the foreign policy initiatives he has introduced, President Tinubu has a great passion to see our fellow blacks all over the globe specifically in the ACP countries are being catered for in every area of their needs .
“So, today we are deploying some experts to the Eastern African countries of Rwanda and Uganda to serve in various capacities and to impact on the lives of the people.
“The volunteers are mostly engineers in different fields and they are the country’s best who we are sending as ambassadors of Nigeria to impact knowledge on their host communities.
“Nigeria has the best in the world and wherever we find ourselves, we must make sure that we give in our best,’’ he said.
Some TAC volunteers, who spoke at occasion promised to uphold Nigeria’s integrity in their host communities.
Prof. Abdul Isa, a Professor of Agriculture from Abubakar Tafawa Beleawa University, Bauchi, said that the foreign mission came as an opportunity for him to impact knowledge in another country in Africa.
Dr Unwana Ekpe, a PhD holder in Electronic Engineering from Akwa Ibom State University, said, “I am happy to be selected by NTAC to go and represent Nigeria in Uganda; I am particularly happy that out of 10,000 that applied, I was deemed fit to represent the country.
Also, Prof. Jerome Ihuma, Professor of Ecosystems Management, Forest Biology and Ecology, Bingham University, Karu, said that he was delighted to be selected as a TAC volunteer among the over 10,000 entries sent by professionals to NTAC.
“I am delighted to be among the volunteers, for me to be here, it means NTAC is not bias and sincere to all Nigerians.”
NAN
