Have you ever heard about the UNICEF? Yes? Good. How about TAC Nigeria?

No?

If you have never heard about the TAC, it’s because, like too many of us, you’re getting information from foreign media like the BBC, CNN, instead of giving a little bit more attention to our beloved Africa’s history and news. In fact, the TAC has done more for Africa than all the Western non-governmental organizations combined. Still, very little is known about their actions.

The TAC, short for the Technical Aid Corps, is a Nigerian international cooperation organization through which Nigeria has been providing expertise support to many African and Caribbean countries during the last 30 years or so. Comparatively to its GPD per capita, Nigeria is one of the top countries contributing to international solidarity and development.

Even before the TAC’s establishment, Nigeria was welcoming the African National Congress students and combatants carrying body scars from the brutal South Africa apartheid policies. The TAC nurtured them with free housing, scholarship, and opportunities to join universities abroad. Today, unfortunately, the freed South Africans are burning Nigerians shops down in Johannesburg!

The TAC scheme was established in 1987 by General Ibrahim Babangida with the purpose of assisting States in Africa, Caribbean regions.

Without the TAC, many sanitation, security, financial and political mechanisms in Western Africa would still be handled by foreign expats. The TAC is active in many countries, silently but diligently assisting countries from Jamaica to Sierra Leone, extending to Uganda, Namibia, Rwanda, Burundi. At the height of the program, no less than 2,000 volunteers were annually posted for a two-year tour to as many as 30 countries.

On 4 March, 2007, 29 medical professionals from the Nigerian TAC scheme were deployed to the Caribbean nation of Belize. These volunteers were chosen to work as pharmacists, nurses, doctors, and laboratory technicians.

On 6 November, 2006, the Jamaican Ministry of Health announced the arrival of 28 Nigerian nurses who were set to fill positions within three of its four regional health authorities. The nurses formed part of a contingent of 110 medical personnel, including pharmacists, doctors, physiotherapists and radiographic technicians, that was expected to arrive in Jamaica under the TAC scheme.

In 2006, 40 Nigerian medical personnel were deployed to Kampala International University Teaching Hospital, located in Ishaka in the Bushenyi district of Uganda, to work and teach.


In 2009, 70 million US dollars were designated by the Nigerian government for the operation of 132 highly-qualified professionals in Sierra Leone as per President Ernest Bai Koroma’s request.

In 2014, 34 artisans, including fashion designers, auto mechanics, cosmetologists, agriculturists, nutritionists were sent to Namibia for volunteer service.

Until 1999, Gambia did not have a national university. When the university opened, Nigeria helped Gambia to train the administrative staff and achieve necessary standards. During the last 28 years, over 200 health workers from Nigeria have assisted Gambia in strengthening its health sector. More than 500 Nigerian professionals have rendered help in various other fields.

In 2014 alone, the TAC received 400 requests of assistance, and from 1,200 to 1,500 volunteers will be deployed to approximately 32 countries.

Some French-speaking countries in West Africa showed hostility toward the TAC volunteers at times. As it turned out, locals would have preferred white expats instead. In some other countries, local residents were not used to seeing Africans coming to help other Africans, and would confuse Nigerian volunteers for competitors at the job market. Also, at times, some local governments would not assign the Nigerian volunteers the same high status they granted to white expats. Such behaviour patterns come from a colonial alienation mindset, which now contradicts the trend of the African continent renaissance and solidarity.

Because the international media are quick to trash Nigeria, all the goodwill of this country in Africa and beyond is yet to be rewarded with a better perception, in contrast to how the Western NGOs are perceived.

The TAC is the best example of cooperation and solidarity between African countries. The recent upgrade of the TAC headquarters in Abuja, and the overwhelming pride all Africans felt about the last presidential election in Nigeria, would add up to the prestige and role of Nigeria in international cooperation.

Sam Nujoma, Namibia’s ex-president, said this about the TAC: “Nigeria is a pillar of Africa’s freedom … and a dependable friend. Nigeria has continued to grant development assistance and personnel to support my government’s socio-economic programs, including the Technical Aid Corps Agreement under which Nigerian experts work in Namibia.”

A senior Ethiopian official said this about Nigerian volunteers: “Even though our country was receiving similar manpower training aid from Japan and Britain, their observation in the two years of the TAC scheme in Ethiopia has shown that Nigerian volunteers were the most dedicated. Nigeria’s efforts in deepening South-South cooperation … had renewed faith in the ability of Africans to help themselves.”

TAC is a good program, and above comments clearly demonstrate its unique value for the continent. Now, it’s time to get it widely-known around the world. The people of Nigeria deserve our gratitude for their benevolent assistance and cooperation.






http://www.naij.com/416767-thousands-tac-nigeria-volunteers-saving-lives-in-africa.html

Hakane

Goodday house. Please how can a medical doctor in Nigeria join TAC? pls anyone with info?