By Jabiru Hassan, Kano
Director General of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps, Rt.Hon.Yusuf Buba Yakub has reiterated the support of the Agency in facilitating the process of retaining the services of any Volunteer that has been offered employment in their place of assignment in a recipient country.
Buba, who made known the above, Friday, in Abuja, during the reception and debriefing exercise for returning Volunteers of the Corps who had completed the 24-month Technical Aid Corps scheme in Cotonou,Republic of Benin, conveyed the appreciation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for giving expression to a strong aspect of his 4-D Foreign Policy Initiative.
The DG, who was represented on the occasion by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Nkem Anyata-Lafia, said the Initiative, which was aimed at consolidating Nigeria’s global and regional influence in Africa, contains the crux of Mr. President’s foreign policy goals, which include efforts at improving Democracy, Development, Demography and the Diaspora.
“Through the Technical Aid Corps Scheme Mr.President has continued to send the correct signals to the entire world that Nigeria is ever ready to continue to champion the quest for a better world through a more productive demography in African, the Caribbean and Pacific nations.While the sacrifices we make today may not come easy, our leaders understand the fact that, until you sacrifice something dear to you to make life better for others, many lives may never achieve the true essence of living.
“So, we thank you for the quality service you have collectively rendered to our sister country and appreciate the fact that you have taken the respect and love the people of Benin Republic have for our country and our people a notch higher.
This is the truest example of South-South Co-operation and we are proud to have been promoting it in the last 38 years,” Buba emphasised.
Earlier, while presenting the Volunteers to the Director General, the Director of Programmes at the Agency, Amb.Zakari Usman, highlighted the significance of the day’s exercise, while expressing optimism that the debriefing session, which he described as an essential part of the NTAC ‘s operational framework, would afford the Agency the opportunity to document the individual experiences of the Volunteers and capture the lessons learnt.
In addition to the above, he said that the session would offer the Agency the opportunity to share the knowledge garnered with future Volunteers, providing them with valuable insights and best practices as well as identifying areas for improvement in the programmes and services of the Agency.
This, he said, was in order to continue to effectively and efficiently deliver on the Agency’s mandate.
According to Hauwa Arabo-Mustapha, a Senior Counsellor at NTAC, who represented the Director of Programmes at the event: “Your inputs as Volunteers during this debriefing exercise will be instrumental in shaping the future of our organisation and in strengthening Nigeria’s role in international development co-operation.”
While baring their minds on the quality of the Scheme and the experiences garnered at post in the two-year Scheme, the 15 Volunteers, some of whom are set to be employed in their host country, said their efforts and commitment to service were highly commended by the people of Benin Republic and expressed the desire that the service years for the Scheme be extended to three or four years, especially given the impact it continues to make on the recipient countries.
The returning Volunteers served at the Nigerian International School in Cotonou, Republic of Benin,and taught in all areas of Languages and the Sciences.
