General News
MFA Orders Media Offensive to Boost Nigeria’s Soft Power as NTAC Expands Global Footprint
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Sola Enikanolaiye, has directed the Nigeria Technical Aid Corps (NTAC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to embark on an aggressive public diplomacy campaign, saying Nigerians remain largely unaware of the country’s growing international development efforts despite decades of impact across Africa and the Caribbean.
The minister gave the directive on Sunday in Abuja while receiving the Director-General of NTAC, Hon. Yusuf Buba Yakub, and members of the agency’s management during a courtesy visit.
Enikanolaiye described public visibility as critical to the success of Nigeria’s foreign policy, stressing that communicating the ministry’s achievements is now as important as delivering them.
“We need to create more announcements for Nigerians to know what we are doing in the Ministry and NTAC,” the minister said. “Nigerians have not been fully aware of the work of TAC and the Ministry. We must up our game in the media.”
He acknowledged ongoing publicity efforts by the ministry’s spokesperson but insisted that a deliberate, adequately funded communication strategy had become essential to support Nigeria’s foreign policy objectives.
The minister said the renewed emphasis on public diplomacy aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the administration’s ongoing reforms to reposition the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more effective service delivery.
According to him, the reforms are anchored on the administration’s 4-D Foreign Policy Doctrine Demography, Democracy, Development and Diaspora with NTAC serving as one of the country’s strongest instruments of soft power diplomacy.
He praised the agency for delivering significant results despite limited resources, describing the relationship between the ministry and NTAC as one of partnership and shared purpose.
Earlier, NTAC Director-General Yusuf Buba Yakub said the agency, established in 1987, has become one of Nigeria’s most effective foreign policy tools by deploying skilled Nigerian professionals to partner countries instead of providing direct financial aid.
He said the programme has deployed more than 10,000 Nigerian professionals to over 40 countries across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, supporting sectors including education, healthcare, engineering, agriculture, information technology and public administration.
According to him, the initiative has strengthened institutions in beneficiary countries while enhancing Nigeria’s international reputation through knowledge transfer and capacity building.
Yakub highlighted several success stories, including the appointment of an NTAC volunteer to chair Sierra Leone’s COVID-19 response and the emergence of former Nigerian volunteers as vice-chancellors and senior university administrators in countries such as The Gambia and Uganda.
He disclosed that 274 Nigerian professionals are currently serving in 13 countries, including The Gambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Jamaica, Grenada, Seychelles and St. Kitts and Nevis, with medical professionals, lecturers, teachers and nurses making up the bulk of the deployments.
The NTAC boss also revealed that the agency is expanding its international reach, with negotiations at advanced stages to sign new technical cooperation agreements with Zambia, Ethiopia, Angola, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados.
He noted that recent diplomatic engagements have already resulted in renewed partnerships with Jamaica, Rwanda, Zanzibar and Seychelles, while new agreements have brought Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis into the programme.
Yakub added that discussions with Jamaica could lead to the large-scale recruitment of Nigerian healthcare professionals under an arrangement to be fully funded by the Jamaican government.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Dunoma Umar Ahmed, urged NTAC to embrace digital transformation by creating an online database of Nigerian experts for international assignments, introducing virtual technical assistance, strengthening diaspora participation, adopting results-based monitoring systems and expanding youth-focused technical diplomacy.
He said embracing technology and innovation would further strengthen Nigeria’s leadership in South-South cooperation and improve the long-term impact of the country’s technical assistance programme.
The meeting underscored the Federal Government’s renewed commitment to using technical cooperation and strategic communication to strengthen Nigeria’s influence abroad while advancing national interests through diplomacy.
