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MBADUKU DAY 2020: VL GFC Boss receives Award of Honour

Published

6 years ago

January 2, 2021

The Chairman, Vandeikya Local Government Football Council, Mr Robert Terlumun Akpenpuun was presented with a prestigious Award of Honour on Thursday, 31 December 2020 by the Mbaduku Development Association (MDA) at the Mbaduku Day Celebrations held at Community Secondary School, Tsar.

The Special Award of Honour to the football administrator is in recognition of his sterling qualities that have come to bear on the development of football in not only Mbaduku community, but also in the entire Kunavland and beyond. His efforts at maintaining peace between the two hitherto warring border communities of Obudu and Tsar through football was specially mentioned and commended by the MDA as deserving of honour as peace was cardinal to development.

Responding, the VLGFC Boss, who is also a bonafide son of Mbaduku thanked the MDA, the organizers of the 2020 Mbaduku Day celebrations for the honour done him and promised to get as many football talents of Mbaduku extraction out of obscurity and into sporting limelight by the help of God. He also brought up the idea of a Mbaduku United Football Club that will nurture these youngsters and sell them to more established professional clubs.

” I’ll like to first and foremost thank God Almighty and Mbaduku Development Association for finding me worthy of a special award. This honour will propel me to do more in helping talented and disciplined footballers of Mbaduku extraction further their careers in more established clubs at home and abroad. But this can only be possible with the formation of Mbaduku United Football Club from where these boys can be trained and exported out to the Big Leagues” he said.

Mr Akpenpuun also commended Mbaduku leaders and elites for identifying with football as a tool for ensuring peace and development and sued for sustainable peace, cooperation and support in order to move the community to greater heights through football.

The Day witnessed the presence of great Mbaduku sons and daughters, specially invited guests including traditional rulers led by Ter U Kunav, HRH Chief. Nyiyongo Achiaku, community leaders, youth groups, cultural groups, women groups etc. Chairmen of Football Councils from Gwer – West, Gboko, Konshisha and members from Vandeikya were also in Tsar to celebrate with their colleague.

Mbaduku Day is celebrated every last day of the year to thank God for His mercies and to do stocktaking as well as render account to the people as to the progress made in the course of the year and prospects for the coming year. This year’s edition also featured a peace match between Obudu and Mbaduku, cultural dances, climaxing with a grand finale that featured award presentation to deserving sons and daughters and an appeal fund launch to complete developmental projects already underway.

From all of us at Vandeikya Local Government Football Council as well as the entire Football family in Vandeikya, this is saying a Big CONGRATULATIONS to our Chairman, Mr Robert Akpenpuun for this very special award. We wish you good health, wealth, length of days and a new year full of sporting achievements for the benefit of Kunavland and beyond.

Kuda Hot! Football Doo!!

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

Published

7 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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