Shuaibu Suleiman is the acting Director-General, Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA). In this chat with Ruth Yamta, he speaks about the mandate of DTCA and the volume of Nigeria’s assistance to other African countries.
Can you give us an overview of DTCA’s mandate?
The Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) was actually set up in 2001 by the administration of the then president Olusegun Obasanjo. At that time, there was a general focus globally that nations were not in position individually to contend with the issue of development. Issues of development perhaps, in the area of harnessing opportunities very effectively or, perhaps, contending with the challenges of development like the one currently on the burner which is climate change; issues that cut across borders of countries; issues that no single nation can handle.
The federal government saw the need to set up DTCA to be able to handle issues of technical cooperation among and between the nations of Africa. So, our mandate is within Africa, that is, beyond the borders of Nigeria. Let me simply explain it by saying there are two critical issues to understand when you are talking about the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa. Number one is the consideration that there are a lot of Nigerians, indeed Africans, right out there in different countries of the world, who have attained high positions both technically and professionally in their various fields of endeavour, yet Africa, and indeed Nigeria, is short of such expertise. The government reasoned and said perhaps, one of the best ways to handle this situation is to be able to mobilise and harness those categories of experts and professionals that have excelled and are contributing immensely to the development of other countries, to persuade them to come back home and make an input into the development process of Nigeria and Africa, but if you can’t come back home, you can as well, even from where you are, do some contribution into development of Africa.
Now, if you look at issues globally, you find Africans, particularly Nigerians, excelling. Right back in 1975, there was actually what the heads of government of Africa considered at the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now African Union (AU); they called it the Inter-African Convention establishing an African Technical Cooperation Programme, and the reason tallies very well with the mandate of DTCA. That consideration said there are countries in Africa that have more resources than they need. At the same time, there are African countries that don’t even seem to have the barest resources that are needed to make development begin to happen. So, one of the key mandates of DTCA is to mobilise and harness the potential and expertise of Africans out there, to able to do some contributions to the economy of Africa. Secondly, it is not enough for you to tell somebody to either come back home and contribute or to say send in resources and contribute it to the development of the continent. Many people are willing to come and when we speak to people by way of advocacy, it is only Africans that can develop Africa. Others can only partner and support us but when it comes to the issues of genuine development of the African continent, we must assume ownership. It is very critical.
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What is the enabling environment for these Africans in Diaspora to return and invest in their land?
The government of Nigeria has said it is not just enough to attract Nigerians in Diaspora back home but we must of a necessity begin to put in place certain things that will facilitate the creation of an enabling environment so that when they come in, they can settle down properly and be able to contribute meaningfully into the development process. Therefore, the federal government created what they called the Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund. It is a $25 million fund located at the African Development Bank (AfDB) to be expended at the rate of $2.5 million per year. In other words, the fund has a life span of 10 years in the first instance and, after that, it is also subject to a review and renew. So far, I believe we’ve gone up to seven years in operating the fund. DCTA and ADB manage this Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund at the AfDB. Let me say we played very critical role in the management of the fund because we are the approving establishment. In other words, no activity from that fund can take place unless DTCA approves the fund.
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So far, have you been able to achieve DTCA’s mandates??
?Let me say (that) since DTCA was set up in 2001, we’ve made quite some achievements. At the initial stages, there were actually some hiccups because we had to negotiate the operation of the fund. We had to work on the manual, on the guideline in terms of how to access and deploy the fund. After we did that, the fund became operational and we started working. At the moment, we have been able to conclude 12 projects across Africa. As I speak to you now, about 15 projects are ongoing in different countries in Africa. Just about two months ago, we received approval of another 12 projects for implementation in different parts of Africa.
There are also quite a number of other applications that are undergoing processes. By last week, we had 91 applications from different parts of Africa requesting to access the fund by way of projects. Let me say that this fund is programme and project-driven. It’s not a fund anybody can just deep his hand and take the money. Countries that need assistance will package a programme and apply. We are more interested in the kind of project that promotes integration of the continent. Such projects like the Lake Chad Basin. I will cite a number of them in the course of this interview. We deal essentially with experts in our operation not amateurs. Let me also mention other programmes we’ve done under the Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund. Right now, as I’m talking to you, we have given scholarships to 12 students from Sierra lone at the African University of Science and Technology in Abuja here at the level of MSc and PhD on issues that have to do with chemical and petroleum engineering, mainly the engineering field. Why? Because recently, Sierra lone discovered oil. And they came to Nigeria and said you have experience on matters that have to do with petroleum engineering and also on issues that have to with marketing. We would not like to encounter the same challenge you have gone through because you have done some learning.
We want you to help us and one of the ways of helping them is by giving scholarships to their students at that high level of academics so that they will be able to come and understudy the system in Nigeria, understand the challenges, understand also the opportunity and be able to build capacity so that they can go and serve in the petroleum industry in Sierra Leone. We also have about 120 students from five Francophone countries at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) on our scholarship, in the first instance, to study English Language. Thereafter, to study courses essentially, engineering courses. Now, this is important to us because we believe that when these students graduate and go back to their respective countries, they will serve as Nigeria’s technical ambassadors. We’ve also done quite a few others like the Lake Chad Basin. We are all aware of the enormous responsibility from the Basin in terms of the opportunity and the existing challenges. It’s a basin that contains about 30 million people. About 20 million of them are from the Nigerian side and 10 million are from Chad, Cameroun and other countries. People often say, why bother about Lake Chad? For us, Lake Chad is a good integration programme because it brings about five countries together. As of necessity, we were able to come together, sit on the same table and discuss issues that have to do with their destiny of their inhabitants and of these five nations.????
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Since DTCA is a Nigerian establishment, is it not better to restrict its mandate to the needs of Nigerians instead of allowing it to become an African mandate?
I’m sure you are very much aware that the world has become a global community. Whatever happens in the U.S. has a lot of implications on Africa. Somebody even said when US coughs, Africa sneezes. That is correct. When we are talking of technical cooperation, we are looking at issues that cut across countries and borders; issues that don’t respect borders. When we are talking about issues of climate change, you can’t stop it by physical barriers. The same for floods; in fact, recently, Lacto Dam in Cameroun flooded the whole of Adamawa State. By the way, whether you like or not, divinely, God has placed leadership of Africa on the shoulder of Nigeria in terms of population, resources and so on. There is no country in Africa that can stand us even in terms of expertise. Therefore, it makes sense for Nigeria to look outward and not only to concentrate on Nigerians. It is actually said wherever you see four black men, one of them is a Nigerian. If you go to Ghana, Nigerians have taken over the economy of Ghana. Some few months ago, there was this controversy that either they pay about $30,000 for them to be allowed to do business individually in Ghana or else they should pack and go. Now, as an African leader, can you afford to sit down and just watch this happen? Firstly, divinely, you have the leadership responsibility to lead Africa and you must live up to that. Secondly, the world has become a global community, which means whatever affects Angola affects Nigeria, whatever affects Chad affects Niger Republic. It therefore, makes sense for all the nations in Africa to cooperate, to bring about the integration of their economies. Thirdly, Nigeria must be interested in what happens in other countries because Nigerians are living there.???????????????
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Is DTCA solely funded by Nigerian government or are there other African organisations funding it?
I wouldn’t say it is solely funded by the federal government of Nigeria but largely funded by the federal government of Nigeria. We are actually funded from the annual budgetary provision perhaps, in terms of capital budget, personal budget and overhead. In terms of the some of the projects we do, we are also funded by the Nigerian government from the Nigerian Technical Cooperation Fund but there are certain projects we do and this is where technical cooperation is very important. There are certain projects you want to do and you may not have the money and the expertise. Often times, what we do is to enter into some collaboration and networking with other establishments from outside the country that do similar things. For instance, if Jacker comes in, they want to do project of the Lake Chad Basin which falls squarely within our mandate; nothing stops us from pooling synergy with Jacker in terms of resources and expertise. Even though we are funded by the federal government of Nigeria, it doesn’t stop us from liaising with other establishments. We have an MoU with quite a number of establishments both in Nigeria and outside Nigeria. We have MoU with Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Africa University of Science and Technology, Industrial Training Fund (ITF). We have MoU with a number of universities in Nigeria.
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What is the volume of Nigeria’s assistance to other African countries?
Nigeria has done well. We’ve reached out to quite a number of African countries like I indicated when I was trying to discuss the projects and programmes we have done in other African countries. You should also remember that Nigeria has been in the vanguard of peace keeping in quite a number of African countries, for example, Liberia, Sudan, Sierra Leone and recently Mali. Nigeria has also done well in sending experts to other African countries. Nigeria is a key player in ECOWAS. About 85 per cent of fund required to run the commission and its activities is being made available by Nigeria. Nigeria has provided leadership to ECOWAS and other regional establishments. If, for instance, Nigeria pulls out of ECOWAs today, you can as well say good bye to ECOWAS; that’s the truth about it.
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What’s your vision for DTCA?
I have a vision that, by virtue of the kind of experts and professionals that we send to other African countries, there will be more respect for the Nigerian nation and Africa as a whole, but let me say that my prayer is that by the time I’m done here, I want to leave an establishment, a system that can run itself; a system that is devoid of personality; a system that doesn’t look back to say if such fellow was here, things would have been better; a system that can crosscheck itself and effectively deliver the mandate of the organisation. I don’t intend to leave a monument that is called ‘Shuaibu’. I pray that by the time I’m leaving here, I’m leaving an establishment which will be reference as an establishment of itself not dependent on any individual personality because we need to set a system that somebody will not just come and destroy, but a system that will crosscheck even the staff and their performances. So, I pray that God will help us (to achieve this) so that?? by the time I’m done, the system is on ground and it can run itself effectively and efficiently.
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