Nigeria sends 44 technical aid volunteers to Namibia

Gboyega Adeoye, Lagos - 06.07.2008

IN a renewed effort to re-build the diplomatic relationship between Nigeria and Namibia, 44 Technical Aids Corps (TAC) were deployed to the Southern African country to support its nationals.
The 44 volunteers left the country on Saturday to support Namibia in the area of critical operation and manpower development and will be in the country for two years.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bagudu Hirse, disclosed that the new set of volunteers formed the second batch to be sent to the country after the agreement was severed in 1989.

He further disclosed that maintaining a high moral standard that will promote the country is a sine-qua-non among the volunteers, and that defaulters will be repatriated home and penalized.

“I expect nothing less than exemplary conduct. If you do well, promotion is certain, but if you default, forget about any promotion. You may even be demoted after being repatriated,” he said.

Hirse, who had been Nigerian ambassador to Namibia for four years, advised the corps members to stay attached to the country’s envoy in the country while he promised that all of them would be adequately taken care of by the Nigerian government.

The director of TAC, Ambassador Mamman Daura, noted that the scheme was conceived by the Nigerian government about 21 years ago, and that the reason was to develop friendly countries in the African, Caribean and Pacific regions.

“At inception, 21 years ago, the scheme was designed by government as a foreign policy tool to garner goodwill for the country. It was the expectation of government that the scheme’s value in enhancing friendship among nations would reside in the realm of providing technical manpower assistance to needy friendly state, with the aim of promoting peace development and self-reliance in these countries,” he said.