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Aisha Buhari Cup Will Boost Women’s Football Development – Sunday Dare

Published

5 years ago

August 31, 2021

The Aisha Buhari Cup, an international women’s football invitational tournament whose inaugural edition holds in Lagos, Nigeria next month has the potentials to boost the development of women’s football and unite the nation.

This is the belief of Sunday Dare, the Youth and Sports Development Minister.

Declaring this on Tuesday in his office in Abuja when he received in audience the Local Organising Committee(LOC) of the competition, the Minister commended them for the wonderful work done so far and the efforts made to host a successful competition inspite of the challenges.

“I knew you started all these with little or no funds,” Dare remarked.

“But seeing how much progress you have made and positive strides you have taken show to me that you are miracle workers. I have read a lot about what you have done even when I was at the Olympics.”

The Minister further assured that all necessary support will be given to make the competition a huge success because it will unite the nation and encourage more interest and participation in the women’s game.

“When the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) president Amaju Pinnick told me of the plans to stage the competition, the first question I asked him was if he had enough time to see it through. He said yes and I promised to lend him my support hundred percent. I’m glad that the event is now a reality. The competition will not only excite and inspire our people, it will also unite us.

“Whatever will unite people has the full support of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, so my support is total especially since it has to do with women’s football. FIFA is unapologetic about the development of the women’s game. The competition is going to attract more women to take to football.”

The Sports Minister thereafter declared a financial support of Fifty Million Naira(N50m) for the competition with a promise to getting other well meaning Nigerians to do same.

In his remarks, Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee(LOC), Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi thanked the Minister for his support in getting the Presidential Task Force(PTF) on Covid 19 to grant permission to have the event staged in Nigeria.

He said the importance of the competition is underscored by the interest shown in it by six of the top women football playing nations in Africa namely Ghana, Morocco, Cameroon, South Africa, Mali, Cote’d Ivoire and hosts Nigeria.

He appealed to the Minister to assist in fast tracking entry visas for the participating teams.

The Aisha Buhari invitational tournament will take pace in Lagos from September 13th – 21st at the Agege Stadium and the refurbished Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan.

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Alake Inaugurates Nigeria-US Solid Minerals Committee, Dismisses $700bn Claim, Says No Assets Sold

Published

21 hours ago

October 28, 2026

The Gleamer

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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