By Onwe Wisdom
Director -General, Directorate of Technical Aid Corps, Rt. Hon. (Dr.) Yusuf Buba Yakub, has said the Agency will continue to draw inspiration from the Four,-D Agenda of President Tinubu’s Foreign Policy initiative in order to actualise the mandate of the Agency.
In a speech on the occasion of the deployment of a new set of TAC Volunteers to Liberia in Abuja, Wednesday, the former lawmaker thanked Mr President for giving life to the vision and ideals of the TAC Scheme in order to continue to play the big- brother role Nigeria has over the past 35 years used the Scheme to play in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
Re-iterate his commitment to the vision of the Renewed Hope Agenda, the Director General, D-TAC, Rt. Hon. Yusuf pledge to join hands with all stakeholders in the Tinubu led Administration to vigorously pursue all of the laudable intentions of that vision.
He added, “In strict compliance with Mr President’s mandate to all officials of the present Administration, we came into DTAC less than a month ago and quickly set out for the pursuit of Mr President ‘s mandate in a 3- Point Agenda that aligns with His Renewed Hope Agenda here in DTAC. These three points encompass the following: Repositioning, Re-energising and Re-engineering DTAC for better and broader relevance in the affairs of our nation.
Banking on the vision of my president, Yusuf said, It is our hope and conviction that, if we follow strictly the vision that has been handed over to us by our dear President, we cannot but make the greatest impact to the utmost benefit of our nation.
Through our 3-R we hope to reset the DTAC for greater performance in the years ahead. I would like to inform that we have begun this solemn mission in national service by setting several timelines, which we hope to deliver to the nation in no distant time. Today’s occasion is one such move, which will be followed by others. We, therefore, request the buy-in of everyone here and the support of the Press to make a success of all that we intend to achieve here.
On the deployment of TAC Volunteers to Liberia, the Recipient country. The DG said the deployment follows rigorous and painstaking processes, and have come this far from months of planning and working through various details.
And the Directorate will continue to facilitate the recruitment and orientation of Nigerian professionals in diverse fields of endeavour for deployment to recipient countries in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific where their professional ingenuity is highly needed. This is what our nation has continued to do since 1987 when the Directorate was established and was perfected by an Act of Parliament No 27 in 1993.
He therefore, congratulate all the Volunteers here, who, of course, will appreciate today’s programme, especially, given the painstaking processes that have brought you thus far.
“For the avoidance of doubt, and, maybe, for the information of members of the Press here, this group of Volunteers has evolved from a long range of processes that include, response to adverts, shortlisting of qualified applicants, interviews, selection as well as other processes”.
Said his emphasis on the above bears directly from the important activities and processes that we have undertaken to ensure that the next two years for the Volunteers will be a period of serious commitment to the task ahead of them in furtherance of our bilateral ties and friendship with the recipient country, in this particular case, the Republic of Liberia.
While charging the Volunteers, Rt. Hon.Yusuf draws their attention to the tripartite agreement and commitment between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Volunteers on one hand. and, again, between the Government and the Recipient country, in another. We must not fail in any of these.
He stresses, “Knowing that you have received the requisite orientation on the demands of the TAC Scheme and all that are required from you per time, it is, therefore, expected that your involvement in this journey for service to humanity and country must be one that will be characterized and guided by the following:
i. Patriotism
ii. Discipline
iii. Commitment to Service
iv. Obedience to primary authority and, last but not the least,
v. Commitment to the Agreement you have entered with your nation, Nigeria.
Earlier, the Directorate Director of program, in a welcome address enjoins the Volunteers to be good ambassador of Nigeria while in place of assignment in Liberia.