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Improve On Current Achievements For Brighter Future, Princess Akobundu Urges Staff, Stakeholders
Joel Ajayi
National Coordinator/Chief Executive Officer, African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) Nigeria Princess Gloria Akobundu urged staff and other stakeholders not to relent their effort but to continue to Improve On Current Achievements For Brighter Future
She said While looking forward to the prosperous year 2022, it is good to reflect on the achievements of the outgoing year 2021 and come up with plans to sustain and improve those achievements,
In a statement signed by the Media Assistant to NC/CEO AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria Abolade Ogundimu in Abuja Akobundu said in the New- Year message to staff and stakeholders
According to her, despite the global impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants around the world, the Federal Government through its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies made significant achievements, they are commendable and should be improved upon.
“As a Federal Government Agency, AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria implemented two critical programs for the development of the entire nation with great successes.
“While the year 2021 started and ended with COVID-19 pandemic, the Second Peer Review Process and the AUDA-NEPAD Initiative to Strengthen Smallholder Farmers Capabilities for Land Restoration amid COVID-19 Pandemic’ went on across the nation.
“I commend our formidable staff and the entire Review Team made up Research and Academic Institutions, State and Non-state actors for the great success achieved by the Agency in 2021.
“If successfully completed at the African Union Summit in 2022, the positive impact of the Second Peer Review Process conducted by the Agency, led by the National Governing Council of APRM Nigeria on the nation and its people will be too numerous to mention as they cut across every facet of national life.
“This is because the nation has voluntarily assessed itself for the second time in the thematic areas of African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), namely: Economic Governance and Management (EGM); Socio-Economic Development (SED); Corporate Governance (CG); Democracy and Political Governance (DPG), as well as cross-cutting issues.
“Pundits in APRM Process have commended the Agency for its inclusive and meticulous conduct of mandatory stages of the Second Review process across the country without compromising safety protocols of the COVID-19 Pandemic, rather with the consistent success recorded.
“Similarly, the Smallholder Farmers program will commence in the first quarter of the year 2022 in the pilot states that cut across the six geo-political zones of the Country.
“The project aims at boosting the capacity of the smallholder farmers who constitute over 80 percent of farmers in the country as well as other stakeholders in the agricultural and food value chain which will automatically boost prosperity at the grassroots,” she said.
The Agency’s Boss commended all the stakeholders in AUDA-NEPAD programmes and activities, urging them to set out for better results in the incoming year 2022.
It will be recalled that Nigeria is about to become the first Nation in the entire West African sub-region to be Peer Reviewed for the second time having excelled in the various stages of the process including, compilation of the Country Self-assessment Report and validation of the Report by the Country Review Mission who went round the country.
Also, the Agency has successfully launched the initiative for the boosting of Smallholder farmers capabilities, it has trained the trainers in the pilot states and brought funding and development partners on board for the full commencement of project in the first quarter of the new year 2022.
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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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