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Nigeria: Weeks and Days of Sporting Glory, Excellence and Medal Harvests

Published

4 years ago

June 20, 2022

From the heavily endowed coast of Ghana, to the beautiful island of Mauritius, from the plains of Agadir to the Diamond handshakes in Paris, Nigerian sports in the last number of days have been nothing short of delight, glory and glamour.

The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria started their WAFU B U-17 championship journey in Ghana with a win over the host, the Black Satelite, completing a revenge against the Ghanaians who had denied inflicted pain on the Super Eagles during the World Cup Qualifying Playoff.

This was followed with a win over Baby Hawks of Togo last Tuesday. The sheer zeal, determination, skill and talent put on display by the Nduka Ugbade-led side gives a lot of hope, as to the grassroot system, which has kept on producing world beaters across different generations.

The Golden Eaglets will book their place at the 2023 U-17 AFCON if they surmount their semifinal hurdle against Cote D’Ivoire.

Just as the men’s cadet teams have been recording successes, the same fortunes have been the reality of the female teams. The country is witnessing a resurgence in youth football, as the unbridled passion of the Honourable Minister for Youth and Sports Development, has worked as a fossil fuel to drive youth development across all sports.

In a short span of time, both Nigeria’s U-17 female team (Flamingos) and the U-20 team (Falconets) qualifed for their respective FIFA World Cup events in India and Costa Rica respectively. This represent a massive victory for the teams but also mirrors a bug boost to women’s football at the grassroot level. The Senior Women’s National Team are also on course for another continental glory which would also take them to the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Also, in the last few days, the Men’s Senior National Team, Super Eagles recorded a historic win over Sao Tome and Principe in Agadir to create a new national record for the biggest win recorded by the Super Eagles. This came on the back of the Sports Minister, Hon. Sunday Dare charge to National Team Technical Adviser, Jose Peseiro that the rebuild of the Super Eagles must be done with all sense of commitment, dedication and zeal to restore the confidence of the nation on the team.

Hon. Sunday Dare had received Peseiro upon his presentation, where he tasked him to ensure he returns the Super Eagles to the top, where it belongs, as Nigerians care so much about their football. With two wins out of as many, the Super Eagles are on track to qualify quite early to the 2023 AFCON to be staged in Cote D’Ivoire.

On the tracks and fields too, the African Senior Athletics Championship hosted by Mauritius witnessed a successful outing for Team Nigeria.

Even with a host of senior absentees at the event, Nigeria finished third on the final table picking up 11 Medals (5 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze medals). Chuwkuebuka Enekwechi set a new championship record, while Oyesade Olatoye made history by winning Nigeria’s first gold medal in Women’s Hammer Throw.

Nigeria’s great sporting week saw a cherry added on the iced cake by a scintillating performance from OluwaTobiloba Amusan at the Diamond League in Paris. In the 100m Women’s Hurdles, Amusan ran an amazing 12.41s to break the nine month old African record she set in Zurich.

In his congratulatory message to Tobi the minister postulated that her success is yet another testament to Nigeria’s steady rising profile in sports.

The minister has also sent a message that all athletes who would represent Nigeria at the forth-coming World Athletics Championships in Oregon and Commonwealth Games ensure they put in their best to fly the flag of the nation high in Oregon and Birmingham respectively.

It has been a terrific week for sports in Nigeria, one would only believe that the country continues to rise to the zenith, amongst the comity to nations across all sporting spheres.

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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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