Our Programmes
The Directorate pursues her mandate through the following operational programmes:
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Scientific and Technical Exchange Programme (STEP)
To facilitate the much-desired strategic integration of African countries through technical cooperation, the Nigerian Government instituted a Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund (NTCF), which is project and programme driven at the African Development Bank (AfDB). The fund provides for US$25m as seed/catalyst money to finance the Scientific and Technical Exchange Programme (STEP) of the Directorate over a period of ten years, at a depletion rate of US$2.5m per year. Through the instrument of the NTCF, the Directorate, in collaboration with the AfDB, is mandated to deploy African professionals and experts to serve in needy African countries under STEP with a view to reverting the “brain drain” phenomenon to “brain gain” and “brain circulation” among African countries. The STEP programme targets three categories of experts as follows:
(a) The highly trained and experienced academics who, due to statutory regulations retired from Universities, Research Institutes and Colleges, but are not yet tired.
(b) The large number of senior public service officers, being seasoned administrators and professionals, who have reached the Directorate level, who can handle policy, but also, have to retire due to the statutory age limit.
(c) Those who found their way abroad and settled and worked there, and are at the cutting edge of the latest technological development in Industry, Education, Law, Research, Business, Information & Communication Technology, Medicine, Engineering and all other fields of human endeavour.
In its’ over two decades of existence, the Directorate has successfully co-managed the Nigeria Technical Cooperation Fund (NTCF) with the African Development Bank (AfDB) in implementing technical cooperation programmes that have utilized Nigerian and other African expertise for the development and integration of Africa. Some of the programmes successfully implemented under the NTCF, with quite a number of others still in progress, are:
Ø The Regional Workshop on Geospatial Data Infrastructure to mainstream Geo-spatial Data Information (GDI) into strategic decision making in Africa.
Ø ECOWAS Harmonization Workshop, aimed at building a common membership and ownership of ECOWAS development assistance strategy document.
Ø Establishment of a Free Trade Zone in the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CENSAD), which identified ways and means of establishing a CEN-SAD free-trade zone, through the steady harmonization of non-tariff barriers.
Ø Evaluation Study on and Extension of the Nigerian Trust Fund (NTF) aimed at undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of the operations and achievements of the NTF, and to assess its relevance and impacts in all African country-beneficiaries.
Ø Review of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Governance Activities to mainstream governance into the ADB operations in a manner consistent with its development priorities.
Ø 2nd African Congress for Scientific Research and Technology provided a platform for discussing fundamental topics in Science and Technology relevant for the socio-economic development of Africa.
Ø The WTO/ECA/ADB 2007 Trade Policy Seminar for Bilateral Funds to avail participants with an in-depth assessment and analysis of the current state of play in the international trading system, with a view to highlighting key areas of concern to African countries.
Ø Workshops on Regional Integration for Growth and Poverty Reduction in West Africa to formulate a strategic framework within which regional organizations can prioritize regional programmes and better combine them with national programmes in order to maximize the impact of growth and poverty reduction.
Ø The Francophone Academic Project at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria for students from Benin Republic, Cameroun, Chad and Niger.
Ø Engagement of two Nigerian academic experts on consultancy to build capacity at the African Regional Centre for Research and Development (CAFRAD).
Ø Technical Assistance for Consultancy on the West Africa Monetary Zone (WAMZ) Programme.
Ø Ronald H. Brown 2010 – 2013 African Affairs Lecture Series.
Ø Capacity Building for Sierra Leonean Post-Graduate Students in Petroleum Engineering and Malawian Post-Graduate Students in Information Technology at the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja.
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Advocacy Programmes
The DTCA focuses at challenging the psyche of Africans both at home and in the Diaspora to appreciate the fact that technically, intellectually and indeed on all matters of development, the African professional is not inferior. Real development of Africa on a self-sustaining basis can only be achieved by Africans themselves. In this respect, the DTCA has engaged Embassies/High Commissions of African nations in Nigeria, Nigerian Embassies and High Commissions in other African countries, and in institutional collaboration programmes across the continent as well as with other relevant Diaspora organizations such as Africarecruit, FindajobinAfrica, Afroneth, Nigerians in Diaspora Organizations (NIDO) worldwide, etc.
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Capacity Building/Development Programmes
DTCA receives requests from other African countries seeking for assistance to develop their capacity in various areas. The areas include the following:
1. Development of Science & Technology;
2. Information & Communications Technology;
3. Health;
4. Business & Finance;
5. Agriculture
6. Education -
Collaboration with other Organizations
The DTCA has worked with a number of national and international organizations and institutions, including the Nigerian National Assembly, on a wide variety of technical and capacity building programme aimed at facilitating the development of Africa through the exchange, dissemination and diffusion of knowledge and technology.
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Technical Programmes
In pursuit of its mandate of promoting technical cooperation for development of the African continent, the Directorate has also been involved in a number of international development programmes with a view to catalyzing the development of Africa, such as:
i) National Workshop on Technical Cooperation and Economic Integration: Breaking the Trans-Boundary Divide, in February 2005 at Abuja; Experts’ Forum for Africa’s Technological Development in January, 2007 at Minna, Niger State; and Promotion of African Regional Technological Inventions, Innovations and Boosting Nigeria’s Technological Development in December, 2010 at Akure, Ondo State.
ii) Regional and international technical programmes with organizations such as the African Regional Conference on Engineering Education (ARCEE); the Conference of Vice-Chancellors and Deans of Science, Engineering and Technology (COVIDSET) in collaboration with the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutes (ANSTI), Nairobi, Kenya; the Pan-African Competitiveness Forum (PACF), in collaboration with The Competitive Institute (TCI), Sweden, with DTCA as Vice-Chair of the interim National Steering Committee of the Pan-African Competitiveness Forum – Nigerian Chapter (PACF-Nigeria); Trade Fairs and Free Trade Zone activities within Africa; Tokyo International Conference on Africa’s Development (TICAD IV); and the Constituents’ for Africa (CFA) Ronald H. Brown African Affairs Series in Washington, U.S.A.
iii) The Directorate has served on Technical Committees for and provided technical assistance to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Diaspora as well as House of Representatives’ Committee on Climate Change.
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Database of Experts
The Directorate has built up and maintains a database of African professionals and experts both at home and in the Diaspora willing to serve in African countries to ensure efficient deployment of experts under the Scientific and Technical Exchange Programme (STEP), with over 500 qualified professionals and experts registered on the database. This database is also available to other international organizations and agencies for utilization in the recruitment of African experts for engagement in projects in Africa. Please click the link to join.