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Nigeria @62: Let’s build on our successes, surmount challenges, says Akobundu, AUDA-NEPAD/APRM Boss
The Nation will sustain it’s development if we all join the government in building on its successes and proffering solution to the challenges, says Princess Gloria Akobundu fsi, National Coordinator/Chief Executive Officer, African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development/African Peer Review Mechanism (AUDA-NEPAD/APRM) Nigeria.
In a statement issued by Media Assistant to NC/CEO,AUDA-NEPAD/APRM Nigeria Abolade Ogundimu, Akobundu in her Independence Anniversary message to Staff and Management of the Agency.
The Agency’s Boss felicitated with President Muhammadu Buhari and the entire people of Nigeria on the 62nd Independence Anniversary.
According to Akobundu, the nation has reasons to celebrate and the need to do more in surmounting the challenges.
” While it is not a bad omen to list out what we are yet to achieve as a nation, we must not lose sight on our achievements.
“After frequent military interjection in governance between 1966 to 1999, the country has deepened it’s feet in the democratic process from 1999 till date.
“The electoral process is getting more transparent and credible, the telecommunication sector is on the upward swing in the development of every sector.
“With deep commitment and can-do spirit of Nigerians as demonstrated by the nation’s Contingent at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom, has shown that the country has huge potential to excel and take it’s pride of place in the comity of Nations,” she said.
On efforts to surmount it’s challenges in every sector, the Agency Boss solicited collective support for various developmental programmes of government at the national and sub-national levels.
“Like every other Ministry, Department and Agency, AUDA-NEPAD/APRM Nigeria has been at the forefront in the implementation of developmental programmes enshrined in it’s mandates. I call on both the public and private sectors as well as development partners to continue to Partner us in achieving our mandate”.
Akobundu being a reputable administrator and security expert, gave a brief of her stewardship in the Agency and how it has impacted on the nation.
“We have embarked on projects that geared towards Food security, we have promoted and carried out programmes aimed at enhancing peaceful coexistence, in the area of economic and infrastructural developments we have partner relevant Private and Public Sector Players in intervening in provision of infrastructure in rural communities in some parts of the country, we have also and is still promoting peaceful and violence free elections in the country and many more.
” Our Agency has the mandate to ensure adequate implementation African Union Agenda 2063 “Africa We want” and UN Sustainable Developmental Goal (SDG) -2030, which are aimed at improving the standard of living of citizens of the continent and the world respectively.
Our flagship programmes include AUDA-NEPAD Initiative to Strengthen Smallholder Farmers capability for land restoration, productivity amid COVID- 19 Pandemic; Implementation of the Second National Plan of Action on the recommendations of the Second Peer Review; sustained sensitisation on violence- free elections, among others,” she said.
She said the gains made in the areas of infrastructural development, agricultural Development; Information and Communication Technology (ICT), among others should be extended to other sectors of the economy.
Akobundu called on the Agency’s workforce to continue to give their best in the discharge of their duty so that the organisation would continue to achieve it’s mandate.
It will be recalled that the Agency organized a High-level events on the Margin of the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) where world leaders gathered to proffer lasting solutions to Nigeria and Africa’s impediments to greater development. This has become an annual ritual for the Agency.
Akobundu also called for patriotic participation of every eligible Nigerian in the forth coming 2023 general elections so that the country would continue to be a leading democratic nation in the continent and around the world.
The Agency has also been instrumental in promoting lasting peace in the nation through collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the security and social sectors.
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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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