By our reporter
The Director-General of the Nigeria Technical Aid Corps (NTAC), Rt. Hon. Yusuf Buba Yakub, has said the agency is finalising plans to begin the export of Nigerian labour with dignity to countries across the world, in order to create employment, discourage irregular migration, and reposition Nigeria’s human capital as a source of foreign exchange.
Speaking while presenting his two-year stewardship scorecard in Abuja, Yakub said the initiative, which has already secured approval from the Federal Ministry of Justice after consultation with the Ministries of Labour, Health and Foreign Affairs, will expand beyond NTAC’s soft power diplomacy into structured labour export programmes.
According to him, “One of the new policy I came in with is to turn Nigeria Technical Aid Corps into a hub for the export of our manpower, not just for free, but also for money. And so side by side with the soft power diplomacy export to support our brothers in Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific, and also to serve humanity, and in the process expose our experts, we are trying to introduce or have introduced the sale of our manpower to discourage Japa, to also discourage our citizens dying out there in the deserts and in the ocean. And most importantly, to create employment for our citizens.”
He explained that during a visit to Jamaica, NTAC was asked to provide additional manpower beyond the initial seven volunteers planned. “I said, well, we will give what we have, but if you want more, we have abundant human resource, we can give you what you pay for it. And so they accepted, and in two weeks they sent a request for 400 experts that they are ready to pay for,” Yakub disclosed.
Debt Clearance, Transparency Reforms, and Institutional Upgrades
The DG also noted that when he assumed office in August 2023, he inherited over 198 serving volunteers, dilapidated infrastructure, ageing vehicles, and hundreds of millions of naira in unpaid allowances and ticket debts.
“And despite inheriting a lot of salaries unpaid of volunteers and a lot of tickets, money not paid, in hundreds of millions, by the grace of God and with the support of Mr. President, today we have cleared all our debts. We are not owing again. We have paid all of our volunteers,” he declared.
Yakub stressed that NTAC has now been able to consistently meet its deployment obligations despite budget pressures caused by exchange rate fluctuations.
“And by the end of the year, we will be meeting our budget by 90-something percent because by the end of October, we will have over 450 volunteers out there. So despite the slight differential in exchange rate, we are going to meet our budget by 90-something percent, by the grace of God, at the end of the year,” he said.
He explained that as part of strengthening the institution, NTAC had introduced new ICT infrastructure to modernise its operations, launched an in-house magazine and documentary series to showcase its work, and reactivated its Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) under the supervision of the ICPC to guarantee fairness in recruitment and deployment.
The DG added that volunteer recruitment has become more competitive, with over 10,000 applications received for the 2024–2026 programme. “That tells you the level of confidence Nigerians have in the Corps today,” he said.
Despite funding challenges, Yakub said his leadership had also overseen rehabilitation of NTAC’s headquarters building and upgrades of staff welfare, largely through his personal outreach to partners and friends of the agency.
On volunteer performance, Yakub highlighted several success stories. “For example, our volunteers that have been deployed to Gambia, the ones I deployed, the two sets I deployed to Gambia, we have been appointed as vice-chancellor and deputy vice-chancellor in the University of Technology in Gambia. One lady, a lady volunteer, has been appointed by the president of Gambia as the vice-chancellor and another professor as deputy, and two other directors. And just two days ago, the last set of volunteers we deployed to Gambia, to the University of Education, two of the professors are also appointed as vice-chancellor and deputy vice-chancellor in the University of Education in Gambia.”
Yakub further listed other country engagements and successes, including volunteers serving as chair of COVID taskforce in Sierra Leone, medical innovations in Uganda, and new partnerships across Africa and the Caribbean.
“In terms of the new countries we have opened within this period, we have the Grenada, which is in the South Caribbean. We have the Kotoa and Guinea. We have South Sudan. And we have Zanzibar. So these are the new countries that we have opened our relationship with in the past two years,” he announced.
