FG Deploys New Volunteers to The Gambia …Emphasises High Standards of Performance and Integrity

By Caroline Ameh

The federal government through the Nigerian Technical Aids Corps has deployed a new batch of Volunteers to The Gambia. The 11 Volunteers, who comprised professionals from diverse backgrounds, including Law, Engineering and expertise in Entrepreneurial Studies, were urged to see their new charge as a call to serve humanity.

This was made known through a statement signed by Mr. Nkem Anyata-Lafia, Special Assistant to the DG, NTAC on Media and Publicity on Thursday, in Abuja.

Speaking during the Pre-departure Orientation for the Volunteers, Director General of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps, Rt.Hon.Yusuf Buba Yakub, congratulated the Volunteers on being among the very few beneficiaries of the 37-year-old Scheme chosen from a long list of over ten thousand applicants when the Agency advertised late last year.

Buba also called on the Volunteers to embody the values of integrity and simplicity and to portray Nigeria in positive light as Technical Diplomats in the recipient country. He highlighted that Nigeria’s approach to international relations is based on soft diplomacy, contrasting it with other nations that might rely on coercion.

He said: “You are called Volunteers because you are going out there to serve humanity in The Gambia. Even if it is half a room that you are given to live in, please, accept it and commit to what you have been sent to do there. Always bear in mind that you are there to represent Nigeria”.

“On behalf of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we are sending you to share with our sister African nation the abundant human resources our country possesses.

“As your parents here, the Nigerian High Commission in The Gambia with our High Commissioner there will be your guardian.”

While admonishing the Volunteers to see themselves not as individuals, but as Nigeria itself, the TAC DG said whatever the Volunteers do in their host country would be seen as the action of the country, hence the need to always stay above board.

He also added that the Scheme, which was established in 1987 through the visionary minds of our past leaders was one important instrument of Diplomacy by which Nigeria has continued to make friends and carve partnerships across the world. Such friendships and partnerships, he said, usually come handy in periods of expediency.

Buba also used the occasion to inform of the recent visit of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of The Gambia, Mr Dawuda Jawara, who used the opportunity to identify some of the skills that are lacking in their country and requested TAC to rise in filling those gaps identified. He then challenged the Volunteers to do all that was considered necessary to rise up to the situation at hand in that country.

Earlier, while presenting the Volunteers to the TAC DG, Director of Programmes at the Agency, Amb.Zakari Usman, tasked the Volunteers to carry high the flag of the country like other participants in the Scheme before them. He said it was by doing so that the objectives of the Scheme would be adequately realised. He encouraged the Volunteers to also adhere to the dos and don’ts of the TAC Scheme,  adding that this would only be possible if they upheld the highest standards of conduct and integrity while representing the country abroad.

Team Lead of the batch of Volunteers, Oyetunji Akinlabi, a Professor of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, thanked the Federal Government for the opportunity given to the Volunteers to serve their country.  He pledged that, in line with Section 19 of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999(as amended),the Volunteers will strive to promote the nation’s national interest and also at all times seek to engage in activities that are geared towards the promotion and preservation of African unity.

Among those who spoke for the Volunteers were Dr. Hope Tebira, a Deputy Director and Legal Draftsperson at the National Assembly, and Barr. Joseph Okete. They each pledged to ensure that the nationals of their host country received more than what they had requested from Nigeria.

The new batch of Volunteers will serve for 24 months in the Gambia in line with the statutory terms of engagement with the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC).