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Tokyo 2020: Ministry Strategizes for Athletes’ Success

Published

7 years ago

December 9, 2019

…targets 11 Sports

The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has taken steps to further consolidate the chances of athletes and teams at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by prioritizing 11 sports and six para-sports for Nigeria’s qualifying pathway to the Games.

A Ministerial Advisory Committee on Tokyo 2020 Games (MACT), which set this priority, also recommended an early start to pre-games camping towards ensuring maximum success.

The Ministerial Advisory Committee on Tokyo 2020 Games, chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Oulsola Adesola, proposed 120 days of camping as it agreed to fast track the process of securing the services of highly skilled technical personnel to complement local coaches.

Mr. Adesola revealed that “The recommendations of the inaugural meeting of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Tokyo 2020 Games (MACT 2020 held on Wednesday, December 9, 2019 was submitted and approved by the Honourable Minister of Youth & Sports Development for implementation. Some of the specific recommendations approved are:-

i) That the under listed 11 Sports for the Olympic and 5 Sports for the Paralympic have been prioritized for the qualifying pathway:

1) Athletics 7) Rowing 1. Para Athletics

2) Badminton 8) Table Tennis 2. Para Canoeing

3) Basketball 9) Taekwondo 3. Para Powerlifting

4) Boxing 10) Weightlifting 4. Para Rowing

5) Canoeing 11) Wrestling 5. Para Table Tennis

6) Gymnastics

ii) That the final list of qualified athletes and sports would be confirmed after the completion of the two year qualification tournaments cycle in June 2020;

iii) Acknowledged the qualification of the athletes listed below as at December 4, 2019:

OLYMPIC GAMES

a) Athletics:
Ese Brume (Women’s Long Jump) F
Amusan Tobi (Women’s 100m Hurdles) F
Blessing Okagbare (100m/200m) F
Divine Oduduru (100m) M
Raymond Okevwo (100m) M
Usheorise Itshekiri (100m) M
Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (Shot Put) M
Emmanuel Bamidele (400m) M
b) Basketball
Male Team (D’ Tigers) M
c) Canoeing
Bello Ayomide (Women’s Canoe Kayak) F
d) Rowing
Toko Esther (Women’s Single Sculls) F
e) Wrestling:
Adekuoroye Odunayo (57kg WW) F

PARALYMPIC GAMES

a)Powerlifting

Female Male

Omolayo Bose 1. Ibrahim Abdulaziz
Orji Precious 2. Dauda Ibrahim
Tijani Latifat 3. Kehinde Paul
Oluwafemiayo Folasade 4. Innocent Nnamdi
Okpala Pauline 5. Roland Ezuruike
Ibrahim Mujinat 6. Yakubu Adesokan
Obiji Lovelyn
Ejike Lucy

b) Para Rowing
Ijeoma Kingsley (Men’s Singles Sculls) M”

The Committee has meanwhile ruled that no Nigerian Athletes would feature in the Games with Wild Card qualification status.

This development comes as the ministry will this week launch its Adopt an Athlete Campaign, which will raise direct funds for each athlete or team for training, support for trials, coaching, medicals, insurance, and 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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