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Royal Awards: Minister Pledges Support For Ooni Youth Project

Published

7 years ago

January 18, 2020

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, has called on the institutionalisation of the Royal African Young Leadership Forum under the guidance of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II. The Minister made this call Friday 17th January, 2020, while delivering a keynote address during the maiden edition of the Royal Awards at the Oduduwa Hall in the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The Royal Awards was handed out to about 100 young Nigerians who have distinguished themselves in their chosen careers and have impacted on the society. The awardees cut across various fields like real estate, entertainment, sports, ICT, humanitarian and social investment.

Mr. Dare, who handed out most of the awards alongside Dr. Fahad AL-Taffaq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to Nigeria, congratulated the awardees and encouraged them to better their current achievements. He said he was elated that the Nigerian Youth was finally getting recognition for positive and worthy contributions to the world. He told the audience that the Ministry is currently poised to develop the Nigerian Youth by improving on their digital literacy, handing them digital skills and greatly improving their employability.

Speaking on the moves to make the Royal Awards more institutionalised, the Minister said, “The Federal Government, through the instrumentality of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, will partner with the Royal African Young Leadership Forum going forward and will sponsor and support this event annually.

“The fact that we are recognising 100 of our Youth today validates the fact that the Youth of this country are not the problem but a resource to be harnessed. Any nation that fails to invest in the Youth in a timely manner imperils not just the future but also the present. The greatest national project of our time is investment in our youth.

“At the Ministry, we are taking our Youth Development mandate just as serious as we take the Sports Development mandate. President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘New DEEL’ for the Nigerian Youth should be wholly supported. The New DEEL hands young people the power to take a personal stake in their development, and in a broader sense, that of the continent,” the Minister added.

He praised all the young people in the Youth present at the event and said, “You represent the best of the 67 million of Nigerian Youth.”

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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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