Nigeria opens door for medical, other volunteer missions abroad

The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has called on its citizens to apply for the Technical Aids Corps (TAC) recruitment exercise for 2024.

The exercise is part of the TAC’s scheme aimed at rendering a helping hand to other countries and establishing a presence in countries in which for economic reasons, Nigeria has no resident diplomatic missions.

According to the official letter, qualified candidates will be required to “render lecturing, technical, medical, and artisanal services in different institutions and organizations in Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries including some multilateral organizations.”

The scheme, which has run for 36 years, is considered a means to share Nigeria’s know-how and expertise with other countries and give assistance based on the country’s need, to enable cooperation between Nigerian and beneficiary states.

“The scheme is an important tool of Nigeria’s foreign policy designed to foster South-South cooperation by way of providing human resource assistance in specific areas of interest on request from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries,” it said.

The letter stated that candidates must possess a Master of Education or Bachelor of Education to be qualified. PhD and degree holders in the medical, engineering, and artisan disciplines are also eligible to apply.

The scheme, which runs for two years, requires Medical doctors to have an MBChB with a minimum of five years’ experience and mandates all medical practitioners to submit a current practicing license. Lecturers interested must also possess a PhD or Master’s degree with up to five years teaching.

It requires all applications to be addressed to the Director General of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and be submitted either online or in hard copy at the gate of the Corps’ headquarters in Abuja. Online applications should be sent to [email protected]. No fee is required.

Applicants must include a CV, photocopies of all relevant certificates as well as foreign certificates authenticated by the Federal Ministry of Education, and a photocopy of NYSC discharge or exemption certificate.

The scheme’s limited eligibility fences off individuals who have served under the TAC scheme before. Individuals who attended the last interview and orientation are also ineligible.

The TAC prides itself as the “only volunteer service of its kind currently operated by an African country.”

Since 2015, Nigeria has deployed 2500 Technical Aid Corps (TAC) volunteers to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The beneficiary countries were Benin Republic, Belize, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Jamaica, Liberia, and Niger.

The national annual budget reveals that in a decade since 2009, the scheme has received a combined 26 billion naira in funding which has consistently risen.