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Principles Guiding The Nigerian Youth Parliament Must Be Adhere To-Sunday Dare

Published

7 years ago

December 30, 2019

Joel Ajayi

Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare has stated that the principles guiding the creation of the Nigerian Youth Parliament must be adhering to in order to achieve the desired outcome.

He Stated this at the Opening Session of the 1st Sitting of the 4th Session of the Nigerian Youth Parliament in Kano.

The Minister represented by the Permanent Secretary Mr. Gabriel Aduda expressed appreciation to the Government and people of Kano State for collaborating with the Ministry is hosting the event.

It will be recalled that the Nigerian Youth Parliament was formally inaugurated in 2008 in line with the United Nations call on member states to establish a platform through which Young people can adequately contribute to decision making processes on issues that concern them as well as inculcate in them democratic principles and leadership qualities.

According to him, with the inauguration of the 4th Session of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, the Ministry and its stakeholders have been working to ensure that the Parliament begins sittings, concludes elections of its principal officers and begins deliberations on important issues affecting our youthful population.

“The activities of the Ministry for the youth such as the one-week leadership training for Parliamentarians at the Sea school in Apapa in collaboration with the Citizenship and Leadership Training Center (CLTC). This bothers on required leadership qualities, self-discipline, teamwork, and the ability to offer selfless services to their constituencies amongst others.

“The packages for the youth such as DEEL is a flagship initiative and explained that the acronym stands for D – Digital skill acquisition E – Entrepreneurship E – Employability L – Leadership and mentoring.

“This initiative the Ministry will train as many youths as possible in a space of ten (10) years.

“To realize this initiative, the Ministry will work with blue-chip companies. The Ministry is also collaborating with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) to upgrade six youth development Centers in the country. This effort is being made by the Ministry to meet with the Nigerian Development Bank who has shown great interest in funding these laudable and impactful ideas that will get the attention of youths. A meeting with the AFDB comes up in January 2020 for accessing grants for the youth.”

However, Minister intimated the gathering of the Ministry’s intention to introduce an online platform tagged “NOYA” which is Nigeria Online Youth Assembly. “This platform will showcase opportunities open and available to Nigerian youth both locally and internationally, also relevant links and information will be provided. It could be education, employment, business, political opportunities etc.

“The area of Sports is not left out as the Hon Minister is introducing the Adopt Campaign which has four models viz Adopt an Athlete, Adopt a Pitch, Adopt a Sport and Adopt a Sports center.

“All these are geared towards the development of the youth. Dare admonished the Parliamentarians that the Ministry hopes on them to drive the Engine of growth in the Nation where ethnicity, tribalism, and vices will be a thing of the past.”

In his Opening Address, the current Speaker Nigeria Youth Parliament Rt Hon Mubarak Mijiyawa enumerated the achievements of the Nigerian Youth Parliament since inception such as the organization of Youth conference in Lagos for youth to discuss salient issues and organization of a symposium on climate change in Abuja where trees were planted.

“Nigerian Youth Parliament will continue to advocate against child abuse and sexual harassment and advised delegates to interact with their constituencies to know their problems for discussion as the sitting starts and not to be concerned only on the financial benefits they will derive from the event.

On his own, National speaker children Parliament Rt. Hon Maisara Abdulkadir Abass reiterated the evil of child abuse and said that more than one billion children are abused globally. He called on all to fight and protect our children. He reminded the youth that they are the leaders of tomorrow and wondered why the Nigerian Youth Parliament has not been participating in global events.

On his part the Governor of Kano state,Abdullahi Umar Ganduje represented by the Acting/Deputy Governor of the state Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Dawuna in declaring the session open said the potentials of youths should be tapped for the growth of the nation and advised them to take up the challenge/ responsibility for them to be trusted as Leaders hence the Not Too Young to run Bill. He enjoined them to criticize responsibly especially in the social media and reiterated that the state will create opportunities for the youth to be self-reliant.

A total of One hundred and six (106) delegates from across all the states of the Federation attended the event. Also in attendance is the Kano state commissioner of Youth amongst others.

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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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