UGANDA REQUESTS 57 NIGERIAN LECTURERS IN MEDICINE, OTHERS

SEQUEL to a bilateral agreement signed between the Federal Government and the Republic of Uganda last month in which Nigeria renewed its pact to assist the East African country with skilled personnel, the Islamic University Mbale, Uganda, has submitted a written request to the Nigerian authorities for 57 lecturers in various fields of academics.
According to Dr. Pius Osunyikanmi, director general of the Directorate of Technical Aid Corps (TAC), an agency of Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry responsible for implementing the mandate of assisting needing African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries from the vast pool of the country’s human resources, the request was submitted through the Nigerian Embassy in Kampalla.
Osunyikanmi told The Guardian in Akure Sunday that the request of the Islamic university, which was made through its Vice Rector, Dr. Mouhamad Mpezamihigo, who incidentally led officials of Ugandan universities to the signing ceremony where the pact was renewed, is in the area of Engineering, Law, Medicine and Education.
He said apart from the university, which is said to have not less than 200 Nigerian students in its enrollment, his office had also received a deluge of requests from various sectors in Uganda with many calling for the deployment of classroom teachers to curb the shortfall in the number of teaching personnel in the East African country.
While disclosing that beneficiaries of the scheme who would be recruited across the country and be deployed next January are mainly first degree holders with three years’ experience, Osunyikanmi however, said TAC is finding it difficult enlisting Doctorate Degree holders in the scheme, as the amount they are to receive is below the industry standard in Nigeria.
Because a lot of requests from majority of African countries are for PhD holders, Osunyikanmi said the TAC would make a request to President Goodluck Jonathan to approve increase in the stipend for senior lecturers to meet the demand of the countries.
According to Osunyikanmi, “the request from our brothers for our assistance is massive. In fact, less than a month after we renewed the pact with Uganda, we have got about 150 requests. This scheme is mutually beneficial to us in Nigeria and those countries we are deploying to. With it, we feel proud of playing our role, which is also exposing our youths to outside practices”.
Source: Guardian