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Benin Agog As Okumagba Bags Skysports Award

Published

7 years ago

March 20, 2020

By Admin.

The ancient City of Benin will come alive with the cream de la cream of personalities as they storm the capital city of Edo State to witness the President of the SUPER EAGLES SUPPORTERS CLUB Prince Vincent Okumagba get honoured by the management of Skysports Media Ltd, the publisher of Skysports Newspaper on the 25th of March 2020.

According to the Chairman, Organising Committee/Managing Consultant Skysports Media Award 2020 Moses Ebahor at a news briefing in Abuja, the award would be bestowed on Okumagba, sports personalities and Corporate organisation as they have contributed to sports development in the state and Nigeria at large.

“Mr Vincent Okumagba, President Super Eagles Supporters Club of Nigeria and others were chosen for the award because of their contributions to sports development, provision of sports infrastructure and talents discovery in the country

“Other notable personalities to be honoured at the event include the Edo State Gov. Mr Godwin Obaseki, as the sports governor of the Year and Ned Nwoko, President Prince Ned Nwoko Foundation, as the sporting man of the year.

“Others are Sunday Dare, Minister of Youth and Sportss Development as sports Icon of the Year, while Mr Philip Shaibu, Deputy Governor of Edo State, as Best Deputy Governor on Sport of the Year”.

Meanwhile, Ebahor noted that the award earlier planned to coincide with the 20th edition of the NSF would still hold in spite of the postponement of the sports fiesta.

It will be recalled that the SUPER EAGLES SUPPORTERS CLUB led by Prince Vincent Okumagba has contributed a lot to sports as they were the only Supporters Club in Rwanda for the 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) to support the CHAN Eagles, they also took the passion further as they were the only group at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in France cheer the Falconets, they were also at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia to give massive support to the Super Eagles.

Okumagba’s led Supporters Club showed they could break barriers by registering their presence in France for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Since it’s inception, they have so far registered their presence in tournaments involving the National teams including being the only group that travelled with the Super Eagles to Tunisia to support them against Libya and only last weekend cheered the Flamingos to the next round of qualifiers ahead of the U-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

In 2019 the Super Eagles Supporters Club created history when they hosted the maiden edition of the Fund Raising and Awards Night at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos where they honoured Nigeria’s foremost oil and gas company AITEO for their contribution to football development in Nigeria, Ethiopian Airlines, ADRON HOMES, YETKEM, Rev Mother Esther Ajayi, Kessington Adebutu, Former Sports Minister, Barr. Solomon Dalung and Nigeria Football Federation President Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick.

That indeed took the club to the next level as their structure has ensured they received several awards for excellence from Daily Sports Awards, University of Benin Sports Awards, Ambrose Ali Pillar of Sports Awards amongst others.

The Skysports award will be the second for the year so far as indeed hard work has brought the club where it is and has not gone unnoticed.

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Featured

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

Published

3 days 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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