With appreciation to the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology of The Gambia, Prof.Pierre Gomez, has disclosed that Nigeria's intervention in their education sector is paying dividends.
He revealed this on Wednesday, during a visit to the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps in Abuja.
According to him, the Gambian President is pleased with the glaring impact of the injection of some Engineering Professors of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps into the running of the University of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology (USET) of The Gambia.
He stressed that the Nigerian Professors have changed the narrative in the country's higher education with regards to skills, innovation and enterprise development, such that enrollment at the USET has increased from 47 to over 200 in the last academic season.
While commending the professional astuteness of the TAC Volunteers currently serving in The Gambia, Prof. Gomez said that the Engineering Professors were championing a new wave of thinking out of the box that are aimed at fashioning out self- funding initiatives for Universities that had hitherto depended solely on government's subvention.
The Minister, according to a statement by Nkem Anyata-Lafia, Special Assistant to the DG, NTAC (Media and Publicity), also revealed the establishment of a new University of Education in his country, said they had looked towards the direction of Nigeria to help in fostering the University into a place of excellence, since all Universities must be seen as places of excellence and Nigeria has all it takes to foster such demands.
He also added that apart from coming to demonstrate appreciation to Nigeria,the delegation specifically had another reason for the visit.
He said: "Today we are here again to request the help of our big brother, Nigeria.This is because your Volunteers have performed greatly well in our country. The great dynamism they have brought into our country's higher education is changing narratives everywhere and we cannot but request for more hands to mentor our teachers and administrators to get things right.
"You gave us all we needed before. The Engineering Professors you gave to our country are more than anyone can ever ask in terms of their productivity and results on ground.
"But here we are again,we are begging your professionals to come and mentor our people in the area of Education,a different area from what the Engineers are already doing." he stated
While assuring the people of The Gambia of the continuous support of Nigeria in the area of her educational needs, the Director General of the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps, Rt.Hon.Yusuf Buba Yakub said the whole idea of NTAC was to fill such gaps among brother nations in the ACP countries.
He congratulated the Government and people of The Gambia on the roles Prof.Gomez has continued to play to make better the higher education sector of the country, adding that the new University of Education would aid in no small way in producing the needed crop of teachers that would deepen education and research in the West African nation.
Buba pledged to immediately set in motion the process of offering the requested assistance to The Gambia in the weeks ahead, stressing that the impact of today's decision on the country 's teaching and learning needs would reverberate positively in the sector in the next twenty years.
Among those who were part of the Minister's delegation were:Dr.Alieu B.Senghore, Chairman of the University of Education, The Gambia; Mr.Aboubacarr Allow, Provost of the University, as well as Mr.Siaka Saidilzigh, a Principal Assistant Secretary at the country's Ministry of Higher Education and Mr.Babucarr Dumbuya, First Secretary at the High Commission of The Gambia in Abuja.
From the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps were the Director of Programmes at the Agency, Amb.Zakari Usman and Mr.Lawandy Bala, Special Assistant to the Director General on Protocol Matters,among others.