Nigerian Technical Aid Corps and President Bola Tinubu’s 4-D Foreign Policy: The Journey So Far.

August 10, 2025

By Yusuf Buba Yakub

1.Protocols
Permit me to commend the organisers of this event,the Diplomatic Digest team and members of its Editorial Board,and congratulate them on this new milestone in the life of the media title.

When a child turns five in our society,it is time to naturally move from Kindergarten to Primary School.It is my take, therefore ,that Diplomatic Digest at 5 has chosen to bring us all here in order to celebrate their change of status at 5 and to inform the world that it has come of age!

We wish to also join you five years from today to herald your 10th year anniversary in 2030. That is where life truly begins.

Abstract
I have been asked to speak on:Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC),which I have,by the grace of God and the kind magnanimity of His Excellency,our dear President and Commander-in-Chief,Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,GCFR,headed since August 2023;and his 4-D Foreign Policy( The Tinubu Doctrine),which constitutes the foreign policy components of what is generally known as Mr.President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

I am to talk about the journey so far,which is more or less telling an enormous part of our story since I assumed office at NTAC in August some two years ago through which we have, alongside our parent-Ministry, with the Minister being the Chief Driver,operated the President Tinubu’s special purpose vehicle(4-D Foreign Policy Initiative)for the repositioning of our nation in the comity of other nations of the globe.

Let me, therefore ,commence this exercise by establishing some fundamental facts about Nigeria,our dear country, about Africa and, indeed,the rest of the globe.

In doing so,I intend to draw comparisons between us and other sister-African countries and , again, against other parts of the world.

These comparisons will enable us to extrapolate the reasons Nigeria and Nigerians are the way we are and why we continue to act the way we do in relation to the rest of the globe
as a country of over 200 million people.

For the records,we are told that ,at least,two of every ten black people you meet across the globe are Nigerians.Nigeria has a population nearing 250 million people,at least,if we go by the population growth rate envisaged by the planned 1991 population census.

Nigeria is about the 8th highest producer of Oil globally.We have over 250 ethnic nationalities that speak some 500 distinct languages and”though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand”,thanks to those immortal words authored by Ms Lillian Jean Williams,which have again been returned to strong relevance by the current Administration in our national life.

What all of this points to is that we are not only a unique,but a great country.In spite of our divergences in tribe, tongue and other persuasions,very huge contrasts that would seemingly tear us apart,we continue to share an unwavering desire to reach out to others in need and to give everyone a shoulder to lean on.

It is, therefore, pertinent to point out here that,as some have argued,that spirit of helping other people , including countries of the world,is in our DNA.There is a spirit of community that exists in every Nigerian that will not allow us to turn away from those who need help or assistance.We are told that from Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa in 1960,to President Tinubu at present,no Nigerian leader has wavered in supporting other nations of the world whenever opportunity presents such a demand.

That is the story of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps.That is the policy called the 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative.

Introduction
Our lecture today will dwell on understanding the Nigeria’s Technical Aid Policy which gave birth to the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps scheme and to relate it with the Tinubu Doctrine,the 4-D Foreign Policy Agenda of the current Administration.The quickest way to understand the policy is to look at its objectives,the operationalisation or implementation of the policy and what the Technical Aid or Assistance policy has engendered in the last 38 years of the establishment of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC).

We will go further to relate the achievements of the past years to what the Tinubu Administration has through the 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative midwifed in just the last two years of this Administration,which received the baton of governance in late May 2023.

Your Excellencies, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,our main focus will be how the general concept of the 4-D Foreign Policy Agenda,which encompasses Democracy, Development, Demography and Diaspora, has given vent to the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps to pursue and to drive home the essential requirements of that foreign policy component of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda,the all-encompassing agenda that drives Mr.President’s plan and vision for comprehensive national development and for an impactful foreign engagement.

We will take a close look at the very reasons that informed the setting-up of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps and how the contributions of its Volunteer Corps are driving the progress being made in their host countries in the areas of Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture and Innovation and as well as Education, Accounting and Artisanal Skills in Africa,the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions,being countries of catchment.

We will talk about the importance of these efforts and how they have continued to elicit respect, admiration and influence from across the globe,even in countries that are not direct receivers or beneficiaries of this assistance.We will seek to establish the correlation of this kind of assistance with our former cash and sundry aid practice and how superior the current assistance model has proven to be in our relationship with other nations of the world.

While doing the above,given the constraints of time,we shall seek to define soft power diplomacy, elaborate the concept against what is generally known as kinetic or hard power in the bid to understand its benefits and how the more developed nations of the world, like the United Kingdom ,USA,China, Japan and the rest,have over the years deployed this kind of diplomacy in a multipolar world to gain the admiration and win the cooperation of other nations of the world.

Definition of Words and Concepts
In a Paper of this nature,I am told it is always apt to define words and concepts that may, without being fully understood by listeners,act as an impediment to understanding the topic of the day.

i.Now,the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps Scheme,as we saw earlier, is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intended to realize the mandate of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC). Simply put, the Technical Aid Corps scheme is the vehicle,while NTAC is the driver!

What then is the mandate of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps? Established in 1987 and fully passed as an Act of Parliament in 1993,NTAC,among other things,was established “to share Nigeria’s know-how and expertise with other African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and matters connected there with.”The foregoing became a marked departure from an era where Nigeria had assisted nations of the world with cash and by sundry other means ,most of which had then failed to achieve the targeted goals as we will see later going forward.

More explicitly in the NTAC Anthem is thus captured the reasons for setting up the Agency.The Anthem goes thus:
“Nigeria ‘s service to humanity
A pride to serve our land
United in our quest to build South-South Co-operation
Through mutual understanding and cultural exchange
Our service binds our nation in peace and harmony
Fulfilling the call to a noble cause
A pride to our great nation
Whose service we uphold.”

While in essence the idea of providing assistance to countries across the world has always been a part of the Nigerian spirit,this assistance had come earlier in our evolution to nationhood in diverse forms,as we shall see in the latter part of this piece.The establishment of NTAC was, therefore,an effort in trying to galvanize the nature and modus operandi to mediate the diverse kinds of assistance that Nigeria had in the past continued to offer the rest of the world.

For instance,Amb.Sani Mohammed,a career diplomat who served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,had while writing about Nigeria’s Technical Assistance and soft power diplomacy in the book: Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps:Issues and Perspectives, opined that Nigeria deserves everything good from the international community because it has,more than any country,played a leading role in the preservation of peace and stability in Africa.

In fact,Amb.Sani earlier pointed out that:
“shortly after Nigeria gained independence,the government of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa sent a contingent of military and police under the command of Major-General J.T.U Aguiyi-Ironsi to the Congo for a Peace Keeping Operation, following the crisis that erupted in the country.Since the Mission to the Congo where Nigerian troops discharged themselves creditably,the country has participated in several other UN Peace Keeping Operations in Angola, Namibia, Mozambique,Somalia and other countries.”

The above is to say nothing in our nation’s roles to restore peace in troubled African countries like Sierra Leone,Cote d’Ivoire,Chad and Guinea Bissau,which only goes to reinforce our earlier assertion that helping others is in Nigeria’s DNA.

This is the spirit that NTAC has continued to drive through the vision and mission for global assistance its technical manpower assistance diplomacy or soft power diplomacy among equally developing countries of the world in a development matrix usually christened South-South Co-operation at the United Nations.In fact,we have it strong authority that the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps Scheme remains one of the few surviving examples of such development cooperation initiatives across the world and has at the last count deployed over 10,000 highly skilled Volunteers to some 40 countries!

ii.The 4-D Foreign Policy Agenda (The Tinubu Doctrine)
The 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative,as we saw earlier, encompasses four major pillars upon which the policy sits.They include:
i.Democracy: A system of self rule through periodic elections;

ii.Development: The progression of society from primitive living to more advanced form of living with education and the provision of social infrastructure being chief drivers;

iii.Demography: The population of the people as characterised by the different segments of the population , including the youth,women and men;and last but not least;

iv.The Diaspora:A population of the country residing outside its geographic jurisdictions.

On its own,the policy is a well-thought-out Initiative that was born from a consuming desire by the Tinubu Administration at inception to recalibrate the basis of its engagement with Africa,the global community and the Nigerian Diaspora across all parts of the world.

The Initiative’s quest for democracy as a global order was in sharp contrast ,in their perceived reality, to the notion around some African countries and parts of the world that were at the beginning of the Tinubu Administration beginning to question the suitability of democracy to some perceived peculiarities in Africa which,in their thinking, democracy had not been able to address.

Despite the furore that came with the new Administration’s push to allow threatened democratic structures in some parts of Africa to continue to thrive unhindered,a deep consideration for regional stability was all that was needed for the then nascent Administration in Nigeria to back down from confronting headlong the elements, including human and systemic ones, seeking then to tear democracy to shreds in some parts of the African Sub-region.

Your Excellencies,disguised participants will recall some of the doomsday prophecies in the early months of the Tinubu Administration that had threatened some of our very beliefs in the Government of the people,for the people and by the people.Thanks to Abraham Lincoln.I need not remind us that the outcome of some of those pushes of the time have left some of our sister-countries outside our regional body,the ECOWAS.

Yet,whether today’s realities have justified their actions of yesterday is what in my opinion should be left for history to judge; especially since it remains premature to see clearly beyond the frenzied dust of emotions the whole junta actions from Mali to Niger and from Chad to BukinaFaso have stirred in those States and, indeed, across the world.But if I could venture an opinion,by the way,I would tell you for free that democracy remains the best form of government; and as the next of the four pillars (Development) will suggest, democracy remains, indeed,a precursor of development.

Again,we have seen that Democracy is a sine qua anon of Development.But for the two to have meaning,a Demography has to be in place to be impacted.This is the close-knit thread of the Tinubu Doctrine,the 4-D Foreign Policy Agenda which , finally, recognizes the necessity for a strong engagement and connection with our nation’s Diaspora in Africa,in Europe as well as in the Americas for our foreign policy goals and objectives to bear fruit and impact the progress of our country, Nigeria.

Of course,all we need to understand this emphasis on our Diaspora is that, for countries like India, Pakistan,the Philippines and even Nigeria ,Diaspora remittances yearly are in the billion mark of their currencies in those countries and go a long way to contributing to GDPs and standard of living.It is, therefore,little wonder that the Tinubu Administration has added these Nigerians in its foreign policy reckoning for not only developing,but for continuous engagement,as we shall see later in this work.

It suffices to, therefore, conclude that the importance,in fact,the necessity of the 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative of President Tinubu in an era the Administration is seeking to reposition Nigeria for greater influence and reckoning across the globe cannot be overemphasized.What with the need to continue to re-assert ourselves as a big-brother African country,which is always prepared,as in the time of old,to give other African countries or Black populations across the world a shoulder to always lean upon, especially at challenging times!

This is the compelling story and trajectory of the President Tinubu 4-D Foreign Policy Agenda,which we must emphasize,has in the last two years,in line with our mandate ,driven in the right direction our interventions in and engagement with our catchment regions of Africa,the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries of the NTAC mandate since Mr.President took over the reins of governance at the Aso Rock Villa in 2023.

Understanding the NTAC Scheme

i.From practice, and as is constantly being enunciated by H.E. the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb.Yusuf M.Tuggar, it is public knowledge that the operators of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps Scheme and , indeed, its Volunteers, are on the fore front in the promotion of the 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative as an aspect of the Foreign Policy Goals of the current Administration, which at inception identified the 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative( The Tinubu Doctrine namely: Democracy, Development, Demography and Diaspora) as key basis upon which to hoist all foreign engagements.

In the words of Amb.Tuggar again:” TAC remains at the centre of Mr. President’s 4-D Initiative.”
As Volunteers for two years in the Scheme, Volunteers of the TAC Scheme drive Development in foreign lands; their free movements, freedom of interaction, activities and practice across geographic boundaries and expressions are social realities that are clearly engendered by a thriving Democratic culture across the different divides through which they operate.

ii.Their services in all aspects of society and diverse fields encompass the different Demographics, especially the youths of different countries, while the contributions and remittances they make to families back home from services rendered abroad qualify them as part of the Diaspora, a position they enjoy for two solid years in the bid to exert influence and achieve cooperation where they serve.

Core Drivers of the TAC Scheme
From experience ,I have always insisted that the quest for influence and cooperation with other parts of the world is the core driver of the TAC Scheme.Several authorities describe influence as inspiring actions and gaining co-operation through persuasion and connection, while, on the other hand, authority is about the right to command or direct, often based on a formal position or title. Successful leadership today,it has been argued by Leadership scholars like Ken Blanchard ,who in one of his books highlighted that today’s world is ruled by influence and not authority,prioritizes influence over authority, as influence builds stronger, more enduring relationships and can be more effective in driving change. Nothing can be a better example than the position China currently holds as a global giant.Without colonizing any nation of the world or even shooting a bullet anywhere to conquer and Lord over, China is today crisscrossing the entire globe using soft power,the power of influence.

The 21st Century reality has shown that kinetic power or coercive force no longer works. This is the core concept and mandate of the Nigeria’s Technical Aid Policy being operated by NTAC today.

It is this Policy, vis-a-vis its objectives, implementation, operationalisation and the general benefits it has engendered in the promotion of our nation’s foreign policy goals in the last 38 years of its establishment that NTAC has given vent to consolidate and to promote in the last two years of the Tinubu Administration.

At this juncture,it is pertinent to mention that before the coming of this President,the TAC Scheme had suffered so much heckle on various sides that the drivers of the policy were more or less seeking to halt the operationalisation of the Scheme that was built to share our abundant technical knowledge, experience and expertise in such fields as Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture, Education, Accounting, Artisanal Skills and the like with countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) regions,as we saw earlier.

Nigeria’s Technical Aid Policy: Tracing its Origins
According to one of my predecessors as DG TAC, Mamman M.Daura, in the book: Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps: Issues and Perspectives (Dokun Publishing House, Ibadan, 2006),”since Nigeria became independent in 1960, and through 1985 in particular, she had provided various forms of assistance to other member States of the international community.” Daura goes on to talk about the provision of troops to maintain peace in the Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and many other parts of the world,to which we alluded earlier,to informing that Nigeria incurred a whopping $60 Billion in bringing about the dismantlement of racial segregation and inhumanity in Southern African alone. Here the huge sums our goodwill to the outside world has engulfed over the past years are hardly the issue, but the necessity that made such sums expendable on our side is the core issue for consideration.

Going further, Daura also informs his reader that, apart from the above, Nigeria also, at various times, paid the salaries of civil servants in some African and Caribbean countries to prevent social unrest in those countries. Nigeria also gave humanitarian assistance in clothing, cash, medicaments and food to drought and volcanic eruption-stricken countries in Africa bilaterally and through other multilateral frameworks. Such huge sacrifices, you may say, but these were responsibilities that came as prices for leadership and in the bid to maintain that leadership position!

Again, it must be understood that in the past, Nigeria ‘s assistance to countries of the world was quite diversified in nature, in modus operandi, and in terms of beneficiaries, as I had pointed out earlier. To again paraphrase Mamman, “In most cases, the assistance was in the form of outright cash donations to leaders of recipient countries.” This was the practice by most of our leaders from Independence until the Babangida era when it was discovered that some of the cash given as assistance to some leaders of less privileged countries went into private pockets and undertakings outside the intended development objectives. This reality provoked the need to move away from financial and monetized assistance to an institutionalized assistance, involving the pooling together of well- trained Nigerian professionals to undertake a new dimension of assistance to the countries that needed such from Nigeria.

Thus, these professionals were brought together to be agents of bilateral co-operation and new instruments of foreign policy. In this regard, both the old monetized approach and the conception of the institutionalized assistance were considered to still be predicated on altruism (i.e. selfless giving that went without any intended benefits for Nigeria). It was, therefore, upon this consideration that the idea for the establishment of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps scheme was born in 1987 with the aim of coordinating and implementing through an institution, the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC), Nigeria’s Technical Aid Policy.

Establishment, Structure, Legal and Institutional Frameworks of the Corps
To underscore the importance of promoting the nation’s Technical Aid Policy, the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC or TAC) was established in 1987 by the Babangida Administration, following proposals initiated in that regard by the then Minister of External(Foreign) Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi. It was established as a Parastatal (an Agency) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was given a legal foundation by Decree No.27 signed by General Ibrahim B. Babangida in his capacity as President, Commander- in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on January 22,1993, exactly six years after it was established. I had felt a tinge of delight a few months ago when in his new book, A Journey in Service: An Autobiography, the former Military President, dedicated a conspicuous page to the establishment of the TAC Scheme, hailing it as one of the most profound achievements of his unquestionably productive eight-year tenure as the Nigerian leader of that era!

Decree 27, in its Article 3(1) of Part 1,also set up a Governing Body for TAC known as the “Directorate of Technical Aid Corps”. The Agency was also made to fully acquire legal and democratic status through the legislature by the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps Establishment Act of October 1,1993.(See NTAC Establishment Act, October 1,1993).

As provided in the Decree, the Director (General),who must be a fit person, shall be the Chairman of the Directorate (the Governing Council),which shall consist of five appointees of Mr. President and a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These members of the Governing Body shall each hold office for a 4-year renewable tenure, while the Director General, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Corps shall hold office for a 5-year renewable tenure at the pleasure of the President. According to Daura in the book afore-quoted, “His (the DG’s) appointment is political. He is appointed by the President and holds office for a period of five years. He is assisted by employees who are public officers who may be pensionable or not.”

Cardinal Objectives of Setting up the Corps
As provided in Article 21 of Decree 27, there are four (4) basic and original objectives of the Corps, viz:

i. To share Nigeria’s know-how and expertise with other African, Caribbean and Pacific countries;

ii. To give assistance on the basis of the assessed and perceived needs of the recipient countries;

iii. To promote co-operation and understanding between Nigeria and the recipient countries; and

iv. To facilitate meaningful contacts between the youths of Nigeria and those of the recipient countries.

From the above objectives, three distinct perspectives can be drawn in the ways and means through which Nigeria intends to propagate or implement its Technical Aid Policy. Identifiable from the foregoing are:

i. Nigeria’s Technical Aid Policy is strictly informed and is driven by the desire to give or provide assistance that will impact positively on the development of the recipient countries;

ii. Nigeria does not intend to give assistance to recipient countries on the basis of her own terms (recipient countries make requests according to their identified, assessed and perceived needs) or to give the recipient countries assistance on the basis of stick and carrot or even on the basis of any conditionality that would make nonsense of the objectives of constructively assisting countries in need; and (Of course, in relation to our own methodology of assistance, we all are today following the back and forth negotiations between the Trump Administration and the Ukrainians in the Americans’ quest for rare minerals from Ukraine in the bid to continue to provide military assistance for the war-torn country. The policy of our own assistance is regarded as purely altruistic. This means it is borne from empathy and, thus, has no strings attached as we have seen from the “gifts” or assistance to others. In any case, every country has its policy in relation to such assistance and it does not matter whether you approve of it or not. This is, however, a topic for another day. But ,suffice it to quickly add here that these differences highlight how in the realms of diplomatic engagements different nation States choose differently how to engage with others in relation to the diverse aspects of socio-political and economic interactions);

iii.From the objectives above, it is easy to understand that Nigeria seeks nothing, but co-operation and understanding from countries to which we provide technical aid. Such cooperation, as a regional leader, is always important and comes handy for Nigeria whenever we push forward candidates for election or appointment into international bodies and multilateral institutions, like the UN, the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, FAO, International Labour Organization, WTO,AU,ECOWAS and the like. The successful entrances of people like Dr.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr.Akinwunmi Adesina as well Amina Mohammed and the rest of those Nigerian-born global gladiators and Brettonwood personalities have been a direct outcome of Nigeria’s policy of assistance to partner countries and organizations. We will return to such benefits in the later part of this paper.

Operationalising the NTAC Mandate
So much has been written and spoken about the implementation of the NTAC mandate in relation to the Technical Aid Policy of our country that I do not intend to dwell much on this aspect of the talk, especially, since I have been offered such a limited time to discuss what I have practised closely in almost the last two years and have been a part of in the last ten years.

In its day-to-day activities, the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps, apart from the usual office bureaucratic business, identifies eligible candidates for consideration and possible deployment abroad as TAC Volunteers. This identification exercise entails several processes that involve advertising and call for applications, sorting ,shortlisting of potential Volunteers, interviews, selection sessions, verification of certificates, security and medical checks, immigration and consular demands, documentation and, finally, eventual deployment for a two-year service in a partner country. As simplistic as these processes may sound, they by no means come easy.

At the qualification level, all candidates that have the required paper qualifications are usually invited to face interview panels of leading professionals and scholars, as well as seasoned public servants who have worked or are still working in their areas of qualification.

Over the past 38 years, the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps has been in the business of deploying TAC Volunteers to mainly African, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) countries. Apart from Africa, our policies encompass deployment of Volunteers to countries where we have sizable populations of our black brothers and sisters. A majority of these are located in countries like Jamaica, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Barbados, Belize and others in the Caribbean Region and in Fiji Island, Samoa, Vanuatu and some of the identified islands of the Pacific Region. It is, therefore, proper to say that the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps scheme is for Black people all over the earth wherever they may be.

Today, the Scheme has benefited over 40 countries across the world with the active participation of over 10000 Volunteers from the fields of Medicine, Engineering, Education, Accounting and Artisanal Skills deployed to countries like Jamaica, Grenada, Guyana, Uganda, Tanzania (Zanzibar), Kenya, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea ,Burundi, Rwanda, Fiji, Samoa as well as the Republic of Benin and many more other countries in some of which the Federal Government of Nigeria built schools and hospitals to provide benefits close to the people and to enable the Volunteers have platforms upon which to stand to operate.

Roles of Various Stakeholders, including the Federal Government and the Recipient or Host Countries in the Scheme
It is important to understand that, in spite of the fact that the TAC Scheme is calculated to be of immense benefits to countries that subscribe to it, the Federal Government of Nigeria undertakes the payment of various allowances, including on and off-shore ones, leave and resettlement allowances and other allowances that are aimed at making the Volunteers serve with the capability of delivering on their core mandates, which are the undertaking of services and transfer of technical skills and personal development/ capacity building in the lives of the nationals of countries where they serve. On the other hand, recipient or host countries where these Volunteers serve also, by the Tripartite Country Agreement entered into between the Federal Government (as represented by NTAC),the recipient countries and the Volunteers themselves, the recipient countries provide the following:
i. a modest accommodation for the Volunteer;
ii. payment for utilities, like light and water bills, gas etc.;
iii. transportation or means of it to and from the place of primary assignment in a recipient country and
iv. tax exemptions for the Volunteers, since they do not receive any salaries from the recipient country.

There are other roles of the stakeholders as itemized in the enlarged engagement booklet of the TAC Scheme (Please, see Handbook of the TAC Scheme).

NTAC Propelled By the President Tinubu 4-D Foreign Policy Agenda Has Been Repositioned These Past Two Years for Greater Relevance in the Globe and for More Impact:The Journey So Far_
Already from what we have seen at some parts of this piece,where we alluded to the underlying benefits of the TAC Scheme as an instrument of our Foreign Policy Goals,we had begun to perceive the appealing aroma of the laudable efforts of the current Administration in the last two years of this 38-year period in the life of NTAC.

Let us then take a look at some of the salient benefits the Scheme has engendered among our youths and participants in the last two years, bearing in mind , however, as I am always quick to mention, that, despite being carried out abroad every penny or kobo expended on the TAC Scheme is paid to a Nigerian citizen. Our citizens remain the direct beneficiaries of the monetary benefits embedded in the Scheme. (I think we need to understand this clarification, aside the concerns of brain-drain some of which, usually, come up every time we have discussions like this.)

But to respond to this as quickly as possible, every kobo spent on the TAC Scheme,I reiterate ,is ploughed back to Nigeria and,in addition to that, Nigeria possesses an abundance of quality skills and manpower to share with other parts of the world, including Medical Doctors and Engineers.From our last call for application in December 2023 alone,we saw that over 10,000 immensely qualified Nigerian professionals applied to participate in the biennial TAC Scheme.This is to say nothing of those who dropped tangible CVs at the NTAC Complex within the pendency of the time allotted for the application.What this tells us is simple: We have enough professional skills to serve and to even sell to the world! Statistics show that Nigerians remain No.1 migrant populations practising as Doctors in the United States alone.You can say ditto for other parts of Europe.

Only as recent as less than a month ago,we saw Mr.President’s State Visit to Saint Lucia.Some of the facts we heard there, including that one-third of the initial population in that country were from Nigeria, actually informed the signing of a Technical Assistance and Manpower Agreement between Nigeria ( represented by NTAC through my humble self)and Saint Lucia.

So, I would say we have brain gain and not brain drain, since everything comes back to us eventually, no wonder the high Diaspora remittances we receive year-in-year-out here.

Now some of the benefits to our Volunteers and country that the Tinubu Administration has through his 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative prioritized and expanded these past two years include:

*Funding of All Aspects of the TAC Scheme: Thanks to Mr.President the Scheme ,which had become more or less moribund a few years ago,has been breathed the oxygen for greater performance in the commity of the nations of the world.With the injection of more funds ,the Scheme has not only been empowered to move faster,but beat new paths into regions and territories that were uncharted before now;

*Physical infrastructural development and tun-around of the NTAC Complex through an expansive remodelling effort that has engendered a world-class environment for performance and results.Today’s NTAC Complex is an edifice that portrays the serious business that the NTAC mandate promotes across the world. It is the glowing result of a President that insists that everything Nigerian must reflect our famed attributes as a country of worth and national pride;

*In addition to the above are work tools,like personal computers and desk tops, machines, utility cars,new furniture and upgraded machines that have either been procured or retooled for greater and seamless operations of the Agency.This is all thanks to our dear President;

Today our Volunteers not only have continued to acquire new and improved skills during participation in the Scheme, but also return to apply these new skills to their jobs at home. On return to Nigeria, experience shows that the Volunteers are usually more equipped to face new challenges with better experience; you can say ditto for even the Europe and America Diasporans;

*The programme engenders self-fulfillment for the Volunteers, having been provided the platform to showcase their competencies outside the shores of the country in interaction with others elsewhere;

*Some of these Volunteers are sometimes retained for paid employment by host countries or institutions therein or even by international organizations;

*After the service, these Volunteers earn for themselves and for Nigeria enduring goodwill and enhanced international image;

*The Scheme itself is an instrument for the promotion of international co-operation and global understanding, hence the goodwill that follows the participants and Nigeria, post service of the Volunteers

*The implementation of the TAC Scheme promotes ideals that lessen threats to world peace and security;

*Ensuring that part of the money meant for foreign assistance is ploughed back into the Nigerian economy;

*Creating employment opportunities for Nigerian youths and professionals;

*Exposing Nigerian youth and professionals to happenings and socio-cultural and political nuances elsewhere, which in turn births new ideas and productive thoughts and insights;

*While promoting co-operation, unity and cultural diplomacy, the Scheme has won Nigeria regional and global solidarity, from which Nigeria has benefitted on many occasions.

*It has also helped to identify areas of economic strength and viability for Nigeria and, thereby, enhancing regional economic integration and co-operation ;

*It has helped to foster economic development and growth in the region. Through demonstrating interest in a host country, areas of interest such as politics, religion, economic resources, minerals and various other products and potentials are identified for possible harnessing for progress by the Volunteers;

*Volunteers also act as channels for the promotion and enhancement of South-South Co-operation.They promote our language,our music,our films,our dressings and all aspects of our national life across the world and have caused a change in how nationals of countries where they serve perceive Nigeria and Nigerians.Time will not permit us to list properly all that we have learnt about this.But this is a copious benefit of soft power.For instance,in Jamaica and parts of South and North America today the Western Nigerian “Adire” has been upgraded to the status of an international textile piece.In Jamaica,a cottage industry has been built for the textile piece ,which has been christened “Jadire” to reflect the infusion of the “J” in the name”Jamaica!” This is all thanks to a Nigerian Technical Aid Corps scheme Volunteer, Luqman Omotayo Alao,who has taken Adire to the entire world;

*Acting as Nigeria’s Ambassadors in countries where Nigerian Embassies do not exist.

While the list above may never be in any way exhaustive,it is important to add the following benefits,which one may not readily see except they think them through.Yet,these achievements are all contributing in promoting Nigeria’s interests across the globe and enhancing its reputation as a key player in regional and global affairs. They include the following:

Key and Notable Milestones of the Tinubu Administration at NTAC in the Last Two Years of His 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative Implementation

Under my humble leadership these past two years,with the support of His Excellency,Mr.President ,we can authoritatively say we have achieved the following:

Expanded Global Reach: NTAC has deployed technical experts to new countries, increasing its global footprint and strengthening South-South cooperation in regions like the Caribbean and parts of Africa to which we have not deployed Volunteers in recent times.These also include new openings in parts of the Pacific countries where we will soon send Volunteers,all things being equal. In fact ,there are even ongoing insights today that suggest that the NTAC Scheme should even go beyond the ACP countries,while there are ongoing efforts to even export our skills for a fee.I shall speak to that later;

Operational Management Reforms: Streamlined processes and enhanced operational efficiency have improved the Agency’s overall performance and effectiveness. These can be seen in the prompt payments to Volunteers,to our different stakeholders, including the overall running of the Scheme and our staff;

Increased Visibility: Strategic initiatives have significantly boosted NTAC’s visibility, showcasing its impact and contributions to national development.When we came on board two years ago everything about us had been obliterated by not only low staff morale ,but poor performance. Whenever one mentioned “TAC” anywhere then,the question that came was usually “Is it still in existence?” Things were so bad that even Google could not locate our office again!
Again,thanks to Mr.President’s meteoric efforts we are back and kicking today.

Value for Money : NTAC has optimized resource utilization, ensuring tangible returns on investment and maximizing the impact of its programmes.More than ever before,we are seeing the benefits of what we are doing at NTAC across the world.Nigerians have been supported by our country allies to occupy positions of leadership across the world and to do business everywhere in peace;

Record-Breaking Achievements: The Agency has consistently delivered impressive results, from successful deployments to impactful projects, demonstrating its commitment to excellence.I shall also speak of some of these impacts before the end of this piece;

Strengthened Partnerships: NTAC has fostered robust relationships with key stakeholders, including government agencies, international organizations, and civil society groups.Just a few days ago,I received in my office officials of Islamic Development Bank.We have in like manner received or interacted with United Nations’ officials, International Office for Migration (IOM) officials, officials of Educational Institutions and Social Institutes, officials of the Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS),members of the Diplomatic Community in Nigeria and the rest,TOSSD,West African Health Organization (WAHO) and others;

Enhanced Capacity Building: The Agency has invested in capacity-building initiatives, empowering its staff and Volunteers to deliver high-quality services.Today,with all modesty,I can say without fear of contradiction that NTAC parades one of the most trained and motivated staffs among the country’s MDAs.In fact,this is one area that I personally know we have done well in keeping with my promise to the NTAC staff when I came into the Agency a little less than two years ago;

Improved Stakeholder Engagement : It is no fluke that engagements with stakeholders in government business has a way of offering direction in institutional governance and service delivery.NTAC has engaged with diverse stakeholders,receiving advice, promoting awareness and understanding of its mission and objectives;

Digital Transformation: NTAC has leveraged technology to enhance its operations, improve data management, and increase online presence.Even for National Youth Service Scheme Corps members who serve with us ,it is cherished knowledge among them that they must possess a level of digital proficiency that is acceptable within our work framework to effectively function with us.They are, therefore,made to join our constant training and retraining activities in order to cope with global best practices and realities of this era within the digital ecosystem through which our work progresses.

Strategic Planning and Policy Development : The Agency has developed and implemented strategic plans, policies, and frameworks to guide its operations and ensure sustainability.These have been couched in books and journals that are periodically being churned out at NTAC under my humble guidance.As a knowledge-based Agency,which deeply reflects in our interactions with mainly academics, professionals in sundry fields, especially professors,we insist that our staff get geared to making reading a culture for growth and self development.It is no wonder, therefore,that today we have an array of members of staff with higher University degrees and certificates. Our actions in this regard are quite deliberate and are intended to allow us meet with the desire to be at par with our usual audiences
and answer to their constant high demand for the right services;

These milestones demonstrate NTAC’s unwavering commitment to promoting Nigeria’s national interests, fostering global partnerships, and empowering nations through technical assistance. Under my humble leadership and the guidance of Mr.President,NTAC continues to soar to new heights, leaving an indelible mark on the lives of millions across the world through the following success stories:

Notable Highlights of Successes Achieved in the Last Two Years

Over 10,000 Global Volunteer Deployment Milestone: NTAC has these past years achieved a significant milestone of deploying over 10,000 Volunteers across the globe with over 400 currently in service.Under Mr.President’s directive and guidance ,in line with the 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative,we have continued the process of expansion begun when we came into the Agency in 2023 to hit the 500 Mark in the first instance.

Global Deployment of Experts: NTAC has these past years consistently deployed trained professionals to various countries, providing technical assistance and capacity-building support.

South-South Cooperation: NTAC has these past years facilitated knowledge sharing and collaboration between countries, promoting mutual learning and development.

Empowerment of Women: NTAC has ensured gender sensitivity and balance by the inclusion of a large number of women in its scheme’s activities ,promoting gender equality and empowerment.

Youth Empowerment through Involvement : NTAC has empowered young people by involving them in its scheme’s activities, providing opportunities for growth and development.

Enhanced Stakeholder Engagement:As we saw earlier ,NTAC has encouraged engagement with diverse stakeholders, promoting awareness, knowledge sharing and understanding of its mission and objectives.

Global Reach and Impact : In the last two years,NTAC’s deployments have spanned multiple countries, including Benin Republic, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea,Uganda, Seychelles, Jamaica, Zanzibar, Grenada, and most recently,selections have been made and earmarked for St. Lucia following the recent signing of Technical Manpower Agreement during the last Presidential Visit;Sao Tome and Precipice, Trinidad and Tobago,among others

Expertise Sharing : NTAC shared Nigerian expertise with other countries, promoting development and cooperation.A case of the Adire textile culture is one copious example.

Institutional Capacity Strengthening : NTAC’s efforts contributed to strengthening institutions and building capacity in The Gambia where TAC Volunteers selected as Vice Chancellor and Directors of School are revolutionizing service delivery and mentorship. Also a new University of Education in that country will in a few days also receive the leadership and mentorship of some Nigerian Professors of Education that are to guide local staff through the entire rudiments of managing the institution and delivering academic results.

*Collaboration with Nigerians in the Diaspora
In line with the 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative of Mr.President ,which pushes for partnership for mutual benefits between professional Nigerian Diasporans and the home country,NTAC has identified and is currently partnering with some of such Nigerians abroad.In Jamaica,a Nigerian Professor of Neurosurgery,Prof.Ernest Madu of the Heart Institute of the Caribbean is currently leading the charge in this current effort to leverage the professional expertise and experience of these highly networked and networth Nigerian professionals to make our people better and to attract direct foreign investments and infrastructure upgrades in our country.

Detribalized and Inclusive Approach : All through our deployments and services we have striven to ensure a non-written detribalized approach to sharing volunteering opportunities, promoting inclusivity and equity among all zones in Nigeria in line with a deep understanding of our heterogenous nature in many facets of our national life.

Awards and Recognitions : For our modest efforts,NTAC and my humble self have continued to receive several awards in recognition of our leadership and contributions to technical assistance and capacity building across the world.Those who know me closely know that I am not one to go hunting for these Awards,but we remain grateful to all organizations and individuals who in one way or another have tried to encourage us to do better and to scale over challenges.

Timely Payment of Volunteers and Debt Clearance : I am being forced to return to this because of its importance to the service we render.It is important to note that prior to our assumption of office there were several backlogs of unpaid emoluments for Volunteers,staff and debts for passages and contractual services.Today ,apart from the timely payment of Volunteers at NTAC by the Tinubu Administration,we have ensured that no Volunteers fail to receive what are due to them by whatever name designated.Their allowances come as and when due, even if it means exploiting some ingenious means to meet these obligations.Today,NTAC has settled all verifiable claims that predated our coming on board and is up-to-date with its business stakeholders.

Regulation of International Workforce Mobility: Under my humble leadership,as I initially alluded to somewhere in this text,NTAC is working towards establishing a framework that enables Nigerian professionals to secure legitimate documentation and travel abroad with dignity, generating revenue for the country.

All the details for this arrangement have been perfected at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice and that of Labour and Employment.Already,there is a demand for 400 professionals, including nurses and others,by the Jamaican authorities.This number will gain full employment in that country and will be paid as employees with the benefits of legal and dignified migration to the country.This is what I call sensible and productive “Japa.” When the movement of the 400 is concluded,more will follow for Jamaica and elsewhere, including Canada.

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,please,just do a little math on the salaries of these Nigerians in a year and how much will be, eventually,remitted to the Federal Government and families at home, knowing our penchant as a people to return funds home.By our understanding,it is a huge win for Nigeria and Nigerians!

15.Before concluding this piece,dear listeners,it is important to look at the challenges that we have faced in operationalizing the TAC Scheme and the ingenious means through which we either have solved or attempted to solve such problems and challenges to actualising our mandate as an Agency of government.

Challenges Met and Overcome

Below are some of the challenges we met and successfully navigated in the course of pursuing the TAC mandate under the current Administration.These include the following:

Funding Constraints: Despite facing funding challenges,we have in good record that whatever Mr.President has provided us with has been injected into the Scheme to ensure timely payment of volunteers’ allowances and the general running of the Scheme.There is no gainsaying the fact that all this has required,in fact,demanded some ingenuity in the management of finance to achieve.
Cultural and Language Barriers: NTAC has effectively managed cultural and language differences in diverse host countries, promoting successful technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives in places like Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Benin Guinea Bissau and such places like Chad and Togo where we have made copious effort to make deployments before the end of this year.
In some of these countries,the Federal Government of Nigeria has built bilingual schools and deployed English Language and French teachers to undergo language orientations and impart the knowledge of English in the recipient countries.Such International Schools exist in the Republic of Benin and in Equatorial Guinea,where we also built a hospital during the Babangida era,all of which are being managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through our Missions in those countries.

Logistical and Administrative Challenges: The Agency overcame complex logistical and administrative hurdles, ensuring smooth operations across multiple countries.

Security Concerns : NTAC has continued to prioritize Volunteer safety and security, implementing measures to mitigate risks and ensure their well-being in countries where misconceptions about their employment status may predispose them to negative treatment by citizens of the host country.We have during deployments,for instance, ensured that we get the Nigerian Mission in such a country to organize an elaborate press event where we sponsor various stakeholders, including local chiefs,to attend in order to understand the status and operations of the Nigerian Volunteers as a mere act of service to humanity being entirely financed by the Federal Government of Nigeria against negative perceptions in some quarters that Nigerians are taking their employment quotas in such countries.

Diplomatic Relations:NTAC has in the implementation of the Scheme fostered positive diplomatic relations with host countries, facilitating successful deployments and collaborations.In some cases we have even used the platform of NTAC to demand very lenient treatment for other Nigerians living in a host country.I remember appealing for the reduction of Resident Permit fee in one of such countries on the prompting of Nigerians in living in that country.This was immediately channelled to the country’s authorityies for prompt consideration.This is TAC in action!

Volunteer Welfare : The Agency has these past two years continued to prioritize Volunteers’ welfare, ensuring their safety, health, and well-being in various deployment contexts.I think there is no need to expatiate on this.You know, negative news is the main news.As a guest lecturer in a youth leadership mentorship event in my first year in office I had asked the youth drawn from all States of the Federation what they knew about NTAC. Obviously sourcing her information from the Internet,a young lady pointedly told me that NTAC was a government Agency that had refused to pay its Volunteers! Thankfully,I was glad that I had discharged that inherited liability immediately I came into the Agency as DG/CEO a month earlier,but whatever you put on the Internet remains there despite a change in reality!

Revenue Generation: As I told you earlier,NTAC is gradually working towards generating revenue through its deployments, navigating global economic trends and competitive landscapes.As I earlier informed,the modalities of this important transition from core Volunteerism to some aspects of revenue generation are already being worked out everywhere concerned, including the National Assembly.
Demanding Travel Schedule: At the Agency,we are constantly faced with grueling travel schedules, often spending up to 35 hours on air, traversing multiple time zones across countries of Africa,the Caribbean and Pacific countries and adapting to new environments, all while maintaining our commitment to the NTAC mandate and mission.
For people like me who are averse to such long hours on air,this challenge can sometimes become enormous.But what do we do since this is what we signed for?

Off course,challenges such as these were overcome through effective leadership, strategic planning, and a commitment to NTAC’s mission and values.

Conclusion

In conclusion,it is important to point out here that the service of our Volunteers has left indelible positive marks in the memories of the people of countries where they have plied their trades and competencies. For instance, as late as the recent COVID 19 Pandemic, a Nigerian Medical Doctor who was a TAC Volunteer coordinated the entire national response to the Pandemic in Sierra Leone. He ended up becoming a personal physician to the President before his sad passing.

This is just one of the many such activities that include the following:

*In Kenya, two medical ex-Volunteers who served in Shelter Afrique were retained as Directors and became instrumental to the design and construction of a low-cost Housing Scheme in Bayelsa State, which was substantially financed by Shelter Afrique, the UN organization responsible for providing shelter in Africa;

*In Uganda, the TAC Volunteers designed and established the Computer Science and network system of the entire Institute of Teacher Education for the first time in that country;
*In the Commonwealth of Dominica, Nigerian Volunteers assisted in evolving a new healthcare delivery system and an ex-Volunteer was made the pioneer Director of the Primary Healthcare System;

*In Zambia, it took the efforts of a TAC Volunteer to design a curriculum for the commencement of a Degree-awarding programme in Dental Surgery in the School of Medicine in 2000, that is ,more than three decades after the establishment of the University of Zambia;

*In The Gambia, a TAC Volunteer was the pioneer Vice Chancellor of the only University in that country at a time. The VC was also succeeded by another TAC Volunteer. The first Registrar of the University was also a TAC Volunteer. Nigerian TAC Volunteers also headed many Departments of the same University ;

*History again repeated itself at The Gambia last year .At the University of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology ( USET) Nigerian-born Professor of Engineering, a Volunteer of the TAC Scheme, Prof.Nazmat Surajudeen-Bakinde was elected by the University Senate, alongside other three TAC Volunteers there, to assume the positions of Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics) and other Directors of School;

*Nigerian Volunteers serving in The Gambian at a time performed the first surgical operation in the renowned Sulayman Junkun General Hospital in that country;

*It was also a Nigerian Volunteer that designed a curriculum in Tourism for the Milton Margai College of Education in Sierra Leone, also for the course of study in Insurance at the Freetown Technical Institute.

In Jamaica, a TAC Volunteer drew up a national land surveying plan that was the first of its kind. Only recently,as we saw earlier ,another Volunteer in that country introduced the popular Southwest Nigerian “Adire” to the Jamaicans and has converted its production into a cottage industry producing the Jamaican version known as “Jadire”. Today ,the entire country has refused to let Mr.Omotayo to return to Nigeria.

Looking back through these past years and laudable achievements, the story has always been that of excellence, innovation and progress in all countries where TAC Volunteers have served or are serving. It is the story of success, exemplary productivity and service by the Volunteers from Fiji to Seychelles to Uganda and to Guinea Bissau.

As it is today, given its impacts on Africa and our other Regions of target with high populations of the Black Diaspora, the TAC Scheme is today an important dynamic of Nigeria’s Foreign Policy and has positioned itself as such a new product for export by Nigeria that the authorities of Namibia, which gained favourably from the Scheme in the early 90s, have signified their willingness to understudy it for their home implementation.Egypt started what looked like it,but failed to continue it ,owing to mismanagement and paucity of funds.Yet,38 years after our official establishment,we are still moving forward, drawing on our staying power,our resilience and the usual strength of mind and character as Nigerians.This is actually who we are: succeeding everywhere that others are failing.

Having understood the diverse aspects of the TAC Scheme and the means through which it has these past 38 years achieved its staying power in the realms of governmental activities, where components and ideas compete for funds and attention, let me thank you again for offering me this opportunity to speak about what has become for me not only a job ,but a compelling passion of which I can go on and on without getting exhausted about what to say.

I am today a few weeks shy of two years in office as Director General of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC);and having spent almost the entire eight years of two tenures at the nation’s House of Representatives in foreign relations with the global community, the last of which I was Chairman of its Committee on Foreign Affairs and the first of which I chaired the Parliamentary Friendship Group on Nigeria/China Relations, I can authoritatively tell you for free what it means for Nigeria to continue to seek avenues to exert influence not only in the African region, but across the world.

Let me leave you with this saying and immortal words of an anonymous writer: “If you want to be remembered by man,plant a tree,write a book or build a monument,but if you want to live forever, endeavour to leave your name on the lips of the world through service to humanity.” This is exactly what we are doing at NTAC today in the implementation and promotion of the President Tinubu 4-D Foreign Policy Agenda.

God bless you for listening and for your patience and kind attention.

Signed
Rt.Hon.(Dr.) Yusuf Buba Yakub , Director General, Nigerian Technical Aid Corps

About the Guest Lecturer
Dr. Buba is a former two-term Member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives. He was also Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs at the 9th House, where he made landmark contributions to the development of Nigeria’s foreign service.

He is better known as a Development Legislator, Reformer, Farmer, Realtor, Entrepreneur and Diplomatic Scholar.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS/UNFAMILIAR WORDS

Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps: Issues and Perspectives. Dokun Publishing House, Ibadan (2006) Edited by Mamman M. Daura.
A Journey in Service: An Autobiography, Published by Bookcraft Ibadan (2025). Author: Ibrahim B. Babangida.
The African Economy, Special Edition 2020 Publisher: D.E.R Ltd Lagos (2020) Editor-in-Chief: Kelechi Anyanwu.
Nigeria at 50: A Compendium, 1st October Publishing, Abuja (2010).
Handbook on the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps Scheme, Published by the Directorate of Technical Aid Corps (DTAC) (2006).
DatelineNTAC, Vol. 2 No.1 Oct- Dec 2024 Published by NTAC, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja (2024) Edited by Nkem Anyata-Lafia.
WTO – World Trade Organisation.
FAO – Food and Agriculture Organisation.
UN – United Nations
Volunteers – A term used for Corps Members of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps selected to serve in a host country.
The Corps – The Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC)
The Directorate – The Governing Body of NTAC, comprising the DG as Chairman, and 6 others.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS/UNFAMILIAR WORDS

Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps: Issues and Perspectives. Dokun Publishing House, Ibadan (2006) Edited by Mamman M. Daura.
A Journey in Service: An Autobiography, Published by Bookcraft Ibadan (2025). Author: Ibrahim B. Babangida.
The African Economy, Special Edition 2020 Publisher: D.E.R Ltd Lagos (2020) Editor-in-Chief: Kelechi Anyanwu.
Nigeria at 50: A Compendium, 1st October Publishing, Abuja (2010).
Handbook on the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps Scheme, Published by the Directorate of Technical Aid Corps (DTAC) (2006).
DatelineNTAC, Vol. 2 No.1 Oct- Dec 2024 Published by NTAC, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja (2024) Edited by Nkem Anyata-Lafia.
WTO – World Trade Organisation.
FAO – Food and Agriculture Organisation.
UN – United Nations
Volunteers – A term used for Corps Members of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps selected to serve in a host country.
The Corps – The Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC)
The Directorate – The Governing Body of NTAC, comprising the DG as Chairman, and 6 others.
13.Nigeria’s Technical Aid Policy:The Role of Mission: A Paper Presented by the NTAC DG to Participants of Course 29 of the Foreign Service Academy Held at the Public Service Institute, Abuja, on May 17,2025.

Texts of a Paper Presented at the 5th Year Anniversary Lecture,Dinner and Awards of Diplomatic Digest Magazine Held at the NICON Luxury Hotel,Abuja,on Thursday,31st July 2025