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Nigerian Youths, Throws Weight Behind South-East APC Presidency Project 2023

Published

6 years ago

October 29, 2020

Joel Ajayi

As part of its determination to make Nigeria as country great again, the Nigerian youths, have thrown its weight behind the All Progressive Party APC and South-East APC Presidency Project come 2023.

In a statement issued on Thursday, by the National Coordinator Dr Chinedu Jideofo-Ogbuagu South-East APC Presidency Project 2023.

According to the statement, “We in South-East APC Presidency Project 2023 have for years felt the frustrations of the Nigerian youths, and we continuously expressed them on many different platforms and occasions.

“Sadly, like the youths, no one listened to us, much less act on our many recommendations that would stem the tide of national rot.

“Launching South-East APC Presidency Project 2023 in January 2020 was our last-ditch attempt at a practical, democratic political solution to the many challenges confronting Nigeria over the past decades.

“Many – including millions of Nigerian youths – have paid the supreme price of our country’s poor leadership since Independence in 1960, but we felt that preparing for a paradigm shift in the leadership of the country in 2023 is more constructive than plunging the country into a crisis which ends no one can predict.

“The fact is that Nigeria is once again at a crossroads. Do we wander into a revolution now or do we prepare for a democratic regime change in 2023?

“We know that some youths are impatient and want a revolution now, and their impatience is understandable. But that branch road is both too risky and dangerous. And it would almost certainly lead to a cataclysmic break-up of Nigeria into a number of splinter territories that no one can predict now.

“That is why we have taken the road that will lead to a peaceful transition from President Buhari to a president of Nigeria of South-East extraction on APC platform.”

The statement added; “Many would ask why on APC platform and, again, their reservation would be understandable. But APC is not beyond reform.

“Promise of Nigeria’s president of South-East extraction on APC platform would immediately change the character of the party from crisis-ridden to a peaceful and progressive party that it should be.

“Promise of Nigeria’s president of South-East extraction on APC platform would bring about an instant attitudinal change of APC members from confusion and uncertainty to certainty and focus on preparing the grounds for national healing, unity and prosperity that South-East APC Presidency Project 2023 represents.

“We cannot achieve a change of the change without involvement of the youths of Nigeria, from whom Nigeria’s president of South-East extraction on APC platform in 2023 should almost certainly emerge.

“In fact, we look forward to an APC dominated by the youths. Youths are progressive and remember that the ‘P’ in ‘APC’ stands for ‘Progressives’.

“Some old men in All Progressives Congress (APC) have not allowed the party to be fully progressive since 2015, but, with an infusion of millions of young persons into APC ahead of 2023, those old men will have to give way for progressive ideas from the youths to change the fortunes of the party and our country.

“We have looked at the original and expanded demands of the #EndSARS protesters, and we find all of the basic progressive demands that youthful Nigeria’s president of South-East extraction on APC platform would easily implement from 29th May 2023.

“Nigerian youths, join APC and South-East APC Presidency Project 2023. Let us together prepare to fix Nigeria and develop her speedily from 29th May 2023.”

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

Published

3 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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