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Dare Selflessly Turning Around Sporting Facilities

Published

4 years ago

July 8, 2022

By Joel Ajayi

Before the commencement of this Present administration, about 126 sports facilities cut across the country was nothing but an eye sores and nothing to write home about them.

But Appointment of the current sports Minister Mr. Sunday Dare by President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2019 to oversee the Sports Ministry apparently took cognizance of a Game-changer who had excelled as a Journalist, Academic, Political Strategist and Communications Technocrat.

Indeed, Dare changed the game. Although he combines overseeing the sports ministry with youth development, his ability to turn around the sports section has sold him across the world as one Nigerian administrator to look out for in the no-distant future.

One of the areas where he excelled was turnaround of many Moribund sporting facilities across the country which are now in good shape courtesy of ministry of youth and sports development under the leadership of hardworking young and Vibrant Sports Minister who has been in touch with the cooperate bodies, individual well-meaning Nigerians and other bodies to ensure private funding and commercialization of sports to make some of our sporting facilities working again.

This particular act is unprecedented in the history of sports in Nigeria, leading many to rest assured of more wholesome packages to come as soon as the sports policy is reinvigorated according to his plans.

The Sports Ministry under the leadership of Dare developed and implemented a Private Public Partnership model for sports, under the ‘Adopt an Athlete’ initiative about 20 athletes were adopted with some getting $10,000 and others $20,000.

Also, under this administration that the National stadium Abuja and Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Obafemi Awolowo stadium, Daura Township stadiums that were left moribund for years, came back to life. Dare got the private sector to begin work and as at last week, the Moshood Abiola stadium in Abuja back to life and 12 years of Abandonment.

Under the leadership of Sports Minister many of the stadium abandoned for over 18 years or more they are back, they might not be 100% but this is a points that, minister thrive where others failed.

Speaking, Minister expressed: “We raise almost over 550 dollars for our athletes, we raised over 2.5million dollars to fix our facilities from the private sector of course government brought in counterpart funding.

“We just believed it’s important for us to lay that foundation, we also get 2 year maintained for the stadium.”

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

Published

5 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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