Nigeria Deploys 20 Technical Aid Volunteers to The Gambia as DG Praises Tinubu’s Support.
By Caroline Ameh
The Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC) has deployed 20 new volunteers to The Gambia as part of efforts to strengthen South-South cooperation, with its Director General, Rt. Hon. Yusuf Buba Yakub, crediting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for revitalizing the agency’s mandate.
Speaking at the orientation exercise in Abuja on Friday, Yakub said the President’s unwavering commitment has elevated NTAC’s global standing and expanded opportunities for Nigerian professionals across Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.
“President Tinubu has taken NTAC to a new level. His support has made it possible for the agency to deepen relations with partner countries in line with its core mandate,” the DG said.
He urged the outgoing volunteers to emulate the success of their predecessors, many of whom have risen to prominent roles in academia, health, and governance across their host countries.
“In Sierra Leone, for instance, a TAC volunteer became the Chief Physician to the President and later led the nation’s COVID-19 response. In The Gambia, our alumni are Vice Chancellors and Directors in top universities. These are footprints of excellence we expect you to build on,” Yakub told the volunteers.
The DG further disclosed that NTAC is expanding its reach beyond Africa, with arrangements in place to send 400 skilled Nigerian professionals to Jamaica as part of a new initiative to provide structured migration and generate revenue for the country.
The deployment, he said, reflects President Tinubu’s 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative aimed at deepening development cooperation and strengthening Nigeria’s ties with the global community.
Earlier, NTAC’s Director of Programmes, Amb. Zakari Usman, said the 20 volunteers were carefully selected from a large pool of applicants and assured that their orientation had prepared them for service abroad.
Responding on behalf of the group, Team Lead Prof. Adanlawo Isaac Gbadura expressed gratitude for the opportunity, pledging that the volunteers would “make Nigeria proud” in The Gambia.
