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We Are Satisfied With Initiatives Champion By Youths Ministry -Hon.Adaramodu

Published

7 years ago

December 13, 2019

Joel Ajayi

The House Committee on Youths, Sports and Social Development has revealed that it’s satisfied with the initiatives, innovations and empowerment programmes being championed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports for growth development of Nigerian youths.

The lawmaker, Hon. Yemi Adaramodu who led others committee member to the office of Youth and sports minister Sunday Dare during familiarization and inspection tour promise to give financial backing to the ministry to enable it carries out many youth empowerment programmes embarked upon for the betterment of the Nigerian youth and country at large.

According to him, the Green Chamber has been following good antecedents of the ministry towards the youth and sports development under the leadership of minister and I can said we are satisfied with the different initiatives being championed to take Nigerian youths to greater heights.

“We shall do everything possible to ensure prompt approval of all appropriation to the ministry that allows the ministry to accomplish all the initiatives ahead of her.”

Speaking on the state of NYSC, Hon. Adaramodu revealed that the committee has gone round many NYSC camp and the report will be given shortly. ”We need to make it better, NYSC is our baby, we have to give it enough food to ensure it grow.”

He, however, called the ministry to continue to work in synergy with youth organizations, said there were plans to review the N-Power scheme to ensure adequate empowerment of Nigerian youths.

“Likewise, I am using this occasion to urge the ministry to key into Social development project of the federal government, the programme should not be for elderly one alone. We also want the ministry to work with NATIPS because the majority of rescue victims are youths.”

In his Addresss, the Minister of Sports and Youths Development Mr Sunday Dare also admonished the Green Chamber to invest in the Nigerian youths.

He restated the determination of the ministry to changing the fundamentals of youth development, capacity building for youths was imperative.

“We need your support beyond appropriate, you need to lend your voice in any matter relating to the youth for the growth and development

“We can create E-learning for about 50, 000 youths to make them employers of labour.”

He however thanked the lawmakers for working on the ministry’s appropriation successively and promised to take the ministry to higher standards.

In his welcome address the ministry Permanent Secretary, Olusade Adesola, enumerated a lot of innovations put in place by the ministry saying that it will help the country to employ its teeming youth that are roaming about the street.

Adesola said that the ministry had National Youths Empowerment as their flagship programme in addition to new initiatives by the minister for youth’s advancement.

He identified Digital Online Youths Assembly (DOYA) as one of the programmes of the ministry to develop the youths.

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

Published

4 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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