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Cooperatives Day: Collaborate on job creation, others – AUDA-NEPAD Boss urges stakeholders

Published

7 years ago

July 6, 2019

Princess Gloria Akobundu

National Coordinator, Chief Executive officer, African Union Development Agency- New Partnership for Africa’s Development/(AUDA-NEPAD), Princess Gloria Akobundu has called for more cooperation among Nigerian stakeholders on job creation to greatly engage the teeming population.

This was said on Saturday in a statement signed on Saturday by Abolade Ogundimu, Media Assistant to the C.E.O of AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria.

Akobundu sued for patriotic collaboration among corporate and individual citizens of Nigeria as the world marks International Day of Cooperatives on July 6, to emphasise importance of teamwork to achieve set objectives.

AUDA-NEPAD Boss added that Nigerians should also collectively discourage and shun illegal migration.

According to National Coordinator of AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria, the call becomes more important as the nation’s developmental strides are stiffened by discordant tunes from banditry, insurgency to kdnapping and ritual killings.

“More cooperation among stakeholders in every sector of the economy is needed now more than ever before.

” The whole world including Africa is moving on fast, let us cooperate with one another as a nation in order not to be left behind in any economic sector.

“Let us come together to support public and private efforts on development while we should also unite as a people against any action that will clog the nation’s wheel of development.

“Together, let’s tap into development and positive engagement of our energetic workforce for National growth which will not only provide economic infrastructures but also help in eliminating the scourge of illegal migration.

” It is more worrisome as it has led to untimely deaths and harrowing hardship for majority of those treading on such dangerous path.

“Niigeria has always been at the forefront of African Union’s (AU) resolve to global greatness through development of Africa’s human and other resources,” she said.

She urged citizens to increase their support to government efforts towards achieving these goals, saying “our great nation- Nigeria, can be at the forefront of continental greatness”.

The agency’s C.E.O added that “this is line with the mandate of AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria and we shall continue to partner with relevant stakeholders within and outside the country in order to promote national development”.

The United Nations’ International Day of Co-operatives has been observed jointly alongside International Co-operative Day since 1995.

Goals of the Day are majorly: to increase awareness on cooperatives and : to complementarily highlight the goals and objectives of UN and the international cooperative movement.

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

Published

24 mins 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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