August 29, 2025 – The Director-General of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC), Dr Yusuf Yakub, has disclosed that plans are underway to commercialise the technical volunteers scheme in order to serve countries in need of professionals.
Yakub made this known on Friday in Abuja during the deployment exercise of 20 Technical Aid Corps (TAC) volunteers, comprising doctors and nurses, to The Gambia.
He explained that the move would help address the challenge of unemployment in Nigeria while also creating opportunities for skilled experts to contribute globally. According to him, the decision was taken because Nigeria has an abundance of unemployed youths and professionals who are not fully engaged.
“You know we have abundant of unemployed youths in the country, a lot of experts that are not fully employed and the whole world is in need of experts to fill some gaps. That informed the need to introduce this initiative, and the corps has developed confidence of other countries because Nigerians have served very well in places that they were deployed to. Jamaica has opened the way by asking for about 400 experts,” he said.
The NTAC boss urged the volunteers to be worthy ambassadors of Nigeria. He also commended President Bola Tinubu for sustaining the deployment exercise, describing it as a key part of Nigeria’s soft power diplomacy initiative.
Yakub further stressed that the abundant human resources in Nigeria should be utilised to support other nations, particularly in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. “By doing this we are contributing to the development of our sister countries and our blacks in the Caribbean and the Pacific. We are also creating partnership, culture and some numerous advantages that this programme will bring. Above all we are serving humanity, and to the glory of God this programme has been given every support by the Tinubu administration,” he said.
Ambassador Zakari Usman, the Director of Programmes, explained that the selection process for the TAC volunteers was very rigorous. He noted that only 20 candidates were chosen out of more than 10,000 applications, urging them to represent Nigeria positively.
Prof Adanlawo Isaac, a surgeon and the team lead, expressed gratitude for the opportunity, promising that the group would promote Nigeria’s image abroad.
The 20 volunteers deployed are Awumtiya Nelson, Aishatu Umar, Folake Iyogun, Salim Jaafar, Oyindamola Oladunmiye, Tula Musa, Julmucit Gwapna, Rakiya Maitama, Ndagi Yunusa, Gbadamosi Hakeem, Bala Godwin, Abba Gumsuri, Uthman Jelilat, Blessing Okure, Fatima Abdullahi, Vivian Nnemaka, Olayinka Rahman, Nwafor Precious and Sule Abdulkarim.