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In a significant diplomatic and economic development, the Government of Jamaica has officially requested the services of 400 Nigerian professionals across various fields to bridge the country’s widening manpower gap. This request comes as part of the broader international recognition of Nigerian expertise and follows previous successful deployments of Nigerian professionals under the Nigeria Technical Aid Corps (NTAC) scheme.

The announcement was made by Dr. Yusuf Yakub, the Director General of NTAC, during the deployment ceremony of 16 Nigerian volunteers to Benin Republic and Rwanda. The volunteers, drawn from various sectors, are expected to contribute their expertise to the educational and social infrastructure of their host nations.

Jamaica's Manpower Shortage and Nigeria’s Role in Bridging the Gap

Jamaica, like many developing nations, is facing a shortage of skilled professionals in sectors such as healthcare, education, engineering, and technology. To address this challenge, the Jamaican government has turned to Nigeria, a country with a strong pool of highly skilled professionals.

What sets this request apart is that Jamaica has pledged to fully fund the services of the 400 Nigerian professionals, covering salaries, accommodations, and other benefits. This represents a shift from the traditional volunteer-based model of NTAC, where Nigerian professionals are deployed to support developing nations under a subsidized arrangement.

According to Dr. Yakub, this is an unprecedented opportunity for Nigerian professionals to gain international exposure while fostering stronger diplomatic and economic ties between Nigeria and Jamaica.

Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps: A Legacy of International Development

The Nigeria Technical Aid Corps (NTAC) was established in 1987 as part of the country’s foreign policy initiative to provide technical assistance to developing nations, particularly in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Over the past three decades, NTAC has deployed over 10,000 Nigerian professionals to various countries, contributing significantly to their socio-economic development.

Notably, past NTAC volunteers have not only been instrumental in nation-building efforts abroad, but many have also secured permanent employment and risen to top leadership positions in their host countries. Some have been appointed as Vice Chancellors and Deputy Vice Chancellors in universities, while others have taken up senior roles in healthcare, governance, and public administration.

With Jamaica’s request, Nigeria continues to solidify its position as a key player in global human capital export, reinforcing the country’s soft power and influence beyond Africa.

New Batch of Nigerian Volunteers Deployed to Benin and Rwanda

Meanwhile, Nigeria has deployed a new batch of 16 volunteers to Benin Republic and Rwanda under the NTAC scheme. These professionals, carefully selected from various disciplines, will serve in academic institutions, healthcare facilities, and engineering projects for two years before returning to Nigeria.

During the deployment ceremony, Dr. Yakub urged the volunteers to be good ambassadors of Nigeria, emphasizing the importance of professionalism, dedication, and cultural diplomacy in their respective assignments.

Among those deployed are:

* Prof. Jafaru Usman, University of Maiduguri, who will be leading the team.

* Dr. Angela Akanwa, a Senior Lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, who expressed excitement about the opportunity to serve and contribute to Nigeria’s global reputation.

Strategic Importance of NTAC for Nigeria’s Global Influence

Nigeria’s ability to supply highly skilled professionals to other nations serves multiple strategic purposes:

Economic Benefits – Countries like Jamaica, willing to pay for Nigerian expertise, can create a new revenue stream for the Nigerian government and its workforce.

Diplomatic Leverage – Strengthening bilateral relations with key nations in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific enhances Nigeria’s influence on global policy matters.

Employment Opportunities – With limited job opportunities at home, NTAC provides Nigerian professionals with international exposure and career advancement.

Knowledge Transfer – Professionals deployed abroad often return with enhanced skills, benefiting Nigeria’s workforce in the long run.

Challenges and the Need for Expansion

Despite NTAC’s successes, challenges remain. Funding constraints, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and limited awareness about the program’s benefits have prevented it from reaching its full potential. Experts have called for:

1. More partnerships with developed nations for better remuneration and working conditions.

2. Policy reforms to streamline the application and selection process.

3. Greater public awareness to encourage more Nigerian professionals to take advantage of these opportunities.


Jamaica’s request for 400 Nigerian professionals reaffirms the global demand for Nigerian expertise and the country’s growing reputation as a human capital hub. Nigeria continues to export talent through programs like NTAC, there is a need to leverage these opportunities for economic growth, diplomatic influence, and strategic partnerships.

With proper investment and policy direction, Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps can become a major foreign policy tool, not only in Africa but across the world.

BlueStripper:
Skilled and competent Nigerians should take advantage of this opportunity to project the country in good light.

Drug dealers, Prostitutes, Gang Members, Yahoo Boys/Girls and unskilled Nigerians should stay away.


Nigeria will be great again.

Editorialtimes:
Jamaica’s request for 400 Nigerian professionals reaffirms the global demand for Nigerian expertise and the country’s growing reputation as a human capital hub.

anonimi:
David Hundeyin
May 4, 2022


I want to sell a script to a Hollywood studio. The story is about a guy who owns a farm that constantly runs at a loss but never quite shuts down.

The farm is massive and underutilised, and the protagonist has all the opportunities in the world to improve its output and get a bumper harvest.

He has access to credit, machinery, free irrigation and gifts from neighbouring farmers, but all he ever does with these things is drink and smoke them away while his family suffers.

Nigeria has refused to grow up and achieve something, but it somehow feels as if it is living vicariously through the achievements of its estranged children around the world

Apart from drinking, smoking and generally being utterly useless, his other pastime is to pump out children at an industrial rate. Needless to say, he takes no care of his children whatsoever, and many of them fail to survive childhood.

Those who do survive have to leave the farm and hire themselves out as hired labour to the neighbouring farmers, having picked up some survival skills from home.

With time, a number of them rise through the ranks and become senior managers, directors and even shareholders in these other farms while their father continues mismanaging his farm.

When good news about some of these successful children gets home, their father is filled with pride and joy, but when they end up on the wrong side of life, he acts as if he never knew them.

The successful ones make efforts to revamp their childhood home by sending back money and volunteering their skills and time, but all this guy ever wants to do is be a 62-year-old underachieving idiot carried through life by charity and luck.

Famzing” diaspora success is dishonest
I’m sure before the end of the second paragraph, you figured out whose story I was telling. The 62-year story of post-independence Nigeria — which the Hollywood studio would surely reject for being too sad with no redemption — is that of our fictional antihero.

Nigeria has refused to grow up and achieve something, but it somehow feels as if it is living vicariously through the achievements of its estranged children around the world.

Remember how everyone from corporate brands to Abike Dabiri made a big song and dance about supporting Anthony Joshua the “Nigerian,” whose only chance to become someone in life came when his parents emigrated from Nigeria?

Remember how things turned when he somehow lost against that chubby Mexican dude whose name I can’t remember? Remember when the Super Falcons won the female AFCON title and received a congratulatory tweet from the president, only for them to have to stage a protest before being paid their camp allowances?

That’s what we do in Nigeria. We try to live vicariously through the achievements of people who have achieved great things under their own steam, simply because said people happen to be called ‘Ifeoma,’ ‘Efe’ and ‘Ayotunde.’

Even when Nigeria had absolutely nothing to do with said success, or in fact happened in spite of Nigeria, as with Divine Oduduru, we bask in the reflected glory of their personal achievements.

Sometimes when those people wear a Nigerian flag or post something about Wizkid or Jollof Rice on Instagram, we go crazy with the Nigerian flag emojis because oh my god, they identify with us!

This is not about being a Killjoy
Somehow, the complete failure of Nigeria and our complicity in its failure is more bearable when we point at Nigerian immigrants doing great things in life and say “I knew Femi before he started calling himself Anthony.

His father and I were classmates in Aiyetoro.” It is unclear how exactly this helps our situation but hey, it’s also unclear how chugging the amount of alcohol we do helps either.

Escapism is a key part of our culture, and anyone who dissents must be a non-Jollof-eating, vegetarian heretic, and possibly also an atheist.

Now while all this is painfully cringey to my eyes, some will also point out that Nigeria is not the only country that has a weird obsession with its diaspora population.

Even ‘first-world’ countries like Ireland continue to have deep emotional and economic connections to their diaspora, and in any case Nigerians proudly supporting Anthony Joshua or the NBA’s Giannis Ante…African-sounding-name is basically harmless fun. They’re not hurting anyone. Why be such a killjoy, David?

The reason this matters can be found in a quote that has been dubiously attributed to Russian President Vladmir Putin, where he describes Africa as the place where its diaspora does not invest in, but returns to only to die and be buried with their ancestors.

While there is no concrete evidence that Mr. Putin ever actually made that comment, the truth in it is painfully poignant.

For diaspora success to be meaningful to Nigeria, it must correlate to on-ground results in Nigeria. The example of Somalia shows that having a well-educated, globally successful diaspora while being an absolute basket case are both possible at the same time.

I’d imagine we do not aspire to be Somalia.

Editorialtimes:
Source: The Bureau Newspaper

BlueStripper:
Skilled and competent Nigerians should take advantage of this opportunity to project the country in good light.

Drug dealers, Prostitutes, Gang Members, Yahoo Boys/Girls and unskilled Nigerians should stay away.


Nigeria will be great again.

BlueStripper:
Skilled and competent Nigerians should take advantage of this opportunity to project the country in good light.

Drug dealers, Prostitutes, Gang Members, Yahoo Boys/Girls and unskilled Nigerians should stay away.


Nigeria will be great again.