The latest group of the Nigerian Technical Service team on a technical mission of support to the Gambia government in various fields such as Education, Health, Agriculture and other development areas arrived in The Gambia in the early hours of Friday.
According to Nigerian Embassy officials, 86 volunteers will be helping the Gambia government in various capacities for a period of two years. The Technical Aids Corp members came through the bilateral agreement signed by the governments of the Gambia and Nigeria in 1982, when the first batch of 12 volunteers came to the country to render technical assistance, working in the fields of agriculture, education and health.
The bilateral relationship between Nigeria and The Gambia started well before The Gambia attained independence, and the diplomatic relationship was formally established in 1965. Since then, the relationship has been growing from strength to strength.
Its worth mentioning that Nigeria has been supporting The Gambia in various fields.
"We have a wonderful bilateral relationship at both bilateral and multilateral levels with a lot of high level exchanges," Okongor a Nigerian High Commission official was quoted as saying.
Okolo Edwin, the team leader, said their mission in The Gambia is to share their expertise with their Gambian counterparts, and also to give support to the government of The Gambia as much as they can, as the sister countries have agreed on the bilateral relationship.
While in The Smiling Coast, we urge our Nigerian guests to integrate into our society.
Our commendations go to the Nigerian government for maintaining cordial and fruitful ties with The Gambia.
The Nigerian community in The Gambia, like any other group of none citizens in the country, are enjoying their full rights of residence and establishment.
Nigerians can be found in almost all regions of the Gambia contributing to the country's development. They can be found even in the most remote communities serving especially teachers.
We urge tech aid corps members to share their knowledge and skills with their Gambia brothers and sisters, be it in the schools, hospitals, private enterprises and anywhere they may find themselves in the larger Gambian community.
To the communities which would be lucky to receive this Nigerian Technical Aid Corps personnel, we urge that they be embraced with open arms and that their stay here be made as comfortable as possible for them. Such reception would enable them give their utmost best.
As developing countries, and long time friends for that matter, The Gambia and Nigeria should maintain strong bilateral ties and remain very supportive of each other.
