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2023 Presidential Primaries: Don’t waste your votes, Amaechi tells APC delegates
With the swelling number of presidential aspirants from the All Progressives Congress (APC), frontline Presidential aspirant, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has advised party delegates to vote wisely and not to waste their votes at the upcoming presidential primary.
Addressing delegates in Edo State, weekend, Amaechi urged them not to be carried away with the bevy of aspirants from the ruling party, but to stay focused on the goal of voting a credible, experienced and performing aspirant like himself to fly the party flag at the 2023 presidential elections.
He said, “Politicians will come to ask for your votes, but please, as South South people, as politicians, as good people of Nigeria, don’t waste your votes. The problem with politicians is you. The elites have shown you that they are here to ‘chop money’ and you allow them. They will bring money here and say you should vote for them, and nobody will care to ask ‘what was he before now, what is his performance?’ The economy they want to come and manage, how have they performed?
“Ask me as Minister for Transport, I’m working hard to make sure that Lagos-Calabar rail line begins and it will come through Benin. I can account for my part. So when those in charge of the economy come to you for votes, ask them how they have managed the economy. As I’m here, ask me. If you ask these kind of questions, they will not come forward. Me, I come with experience, let them come with that experience. I come with the experience of being a Speaker for eight years and I managed my colleagues without being impeached. First time in the history of Nigeria that a Speaker will serve for eight years without being impeached. It was me. And I was Chairman, Speakers Forum, twice. You understand what it means to manage your equals? I was elected Chairman of Governors Forum, twice. If I didn’t manage the Governor’s Forum well, would my colleagues have voted for me?” He asked.
Amaechi also harped on the importance of having an electable candidate on the ballot for the APC to win the presidency.
“The electability of a candidate is essential for you, if not, the APC will lose the election. For now, I think I’m the most electable. I’m tried, tested and trusted,” Amaechi said, adding that he has a wealth of experience and history of project delivery to show, from his time as Governor of Rivers State and now as Minister of Transportation.
He said, “if they ask me, I have huge evidences, Model Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Primary Health Care Centres, Hospitals, Roads, 750 megawatts of power in Rivers State. Children were sent overseas to study, 13,200 teachers were employed, and other achievements as Governor. As Minister for Transportation, I finished the Kaduna-Abuja rail, Lagos-Ibadan is running. For those of you who say, ‘what has he done in the South South?’ There’s Warri-Itakpe rail line, only two communities are in Kogi, the rest are in Edo and Delta. States. We have started Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail, and we will start the Lagos-Calabar rail. So when they say ‘he has not done anything in the South South,’ are they saying Delta and Edo are not part of the Niger Delta? So I have evidence of what my contributions are to APC and to Nigeria. I can account for the period I have been in office. So if they bring money, you take it, but let us rise, vote right and defend our votes.”
Amaechi was also at the Palace of the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare 2, who told the Minister that he would have been surprised if he wasn’t running, as he is well positioned to lead the country.
“If you didn’t come out, we would have been surprised. We have heard you, we have been watching all you have been doing as the Minister of Transportation. We commend you for what you have done for the railway lines, but the security agencies need to be involved considering what happened the last time on Abuja-Kaduna railway line. Benin throne is non-partisan, however, we endeavor to follow our ancestors directives to guide and pray,” the Oba said.
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Alake Inaugurates Nigeria-US Solid Minerals Committee, Dismisses $700bn Claim, Says No Assets Sold
Joel Ajayi
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, on Tuesday inaugurated the Nigeria-United States Committee on Strategic Cooperation in the Solid Minerals Sector in Abuja, dismissing reports that Nigeria sold $700 billion worth of solid minerals to the US.
The inauguration followed the strategic cooperation framework established between Nigeria and the United States during the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Head PRESS and Public Relations Department Mrs. Kania Maliki Andeyaba stated that, Alake in the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed with the US is a government-to-government platform to facilitate business-to-business engagements between American investors and Nigerian local operators, not a sale of assets.
Harping on the importance of the solid minerals sector to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic diversification agenda, he noted that the administration was committed to reducing dependence on a mono-product economy through the sustainable development of Nigeria’s vast mineral resources.
According to him, the Nigeria–US partnership as a strategic initiative to attract investment, promote technology transfer, strengthen local mineral processing and create employment opportunities.
“There is no sale of any Nigerian asset. There’s nothing exchanging hands,” Alake declared.
“We created a platform to facilitate mingling of US investment ventures with Nigeria’s local operators. It is in the public domain. We signed it in public and published it in four or five national newspapers.”
The Minister said reports claiming the US was coming to take over Nigeria’s minerals and security architecture were untrue at best and products of riotous imagination at worst.
Explaining the policy thrust, Alake said Africa has historically held the short end of the stick in global economic transactions, and Nigeria is determined to change that model.
“We have the resources, the critical elements the world needs to transit to clean energy. So we are creating a new paradigm — you bring your capital, expertise and technology, to match with our natural resources and create a win-win situation . The investor gains, Nigeria gains.’’he said.
Nigeria, he stressed, had operated a mono-cultural economy dependent on oil, while solid minerals were exploited informally — with ores taken “from pit to port” without value addition.
Alake said government has now made local processing mandatory, refusing to grant mineral titles to investors without a clear pathway to processing in Nigeria.
He said the policy led to the springing up of processing factories, including the largest lithium processing plant in West Africa commissioned recently in Nasarawa by the Vice President, and informed the formation of the African Minerals Strategy Group.
Alake noted that investor confidence has returned due to macro-economic reforms by President Bola Tinubu that guarantee security of tenure and repatriation of profits.
He charged the committee to discharge its assignment responsibly, saying its work is strategic to achieving the President’s $1 trillion economy target.
To this end, he told the Committee to ensure effective coordination, identify investment opportunities and translate the framework into measurable outcomes capable of positioning Nigeria as a competitive player in the global solid minerals industry.
In his welcome address, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Engr. Faruk Yusuf Yabo, said the inauguration translates growing bilateral engagements into a structured framework for practical cooperation and investment mobilization
Economic Officer at the US Embassy, Jonathan Baas, said President Donald Trump has prioritized three areas for US embassies — energy, artificial intelligence/super intelligence, and critical minerals.
Baas said Washington’s direction is to work with partners to secure critical supply chains while ensuring partners capture value.
“We just signed a contract today on looking into building AI data centres in Nigeria at the Nigerian Economic Summit. That’s the direction Washington wants us to go,” he said.
In his vote of thanks, CEO/Managing Director of Nigeria Solid Minerals Company, NSMC said that the committee
is expected to coordinate implementation, facilitate investment and monitor progress towards achieving the objectives of the Nigeria–US cooperation framework.
The inauguration reinforces the Federal Government’s commitment to repositioning the solid minerals sector as a key driver of economic diversification, industrial development and national prosperity under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
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