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WHY BOLA TINUBU PRESIDENCY IS THE BEST FIT FOR NIGERIA’S SPORTS

Published

4 years ago

January 24, 2023

By Micheal Obasi
Sports Affairs Analyst/ Sports Presenter and Member APC Public Affairs Presidential Campaign Council

I have no doubt that the Sports Sector will be one of the biggest Beneficiaries if the APC Presidential Candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu becomes the next President of Nigeria.

And when this happens , Nigerian Youths will be one of the top gainers of a Bola Tinubu Presidency.

We all know that one singular thing that undoubtedly unites our Country is Sports and Football in Particular.

So amongst many other equally important sectors , if the next President can get Nigeria Sport Sector functioning to her full Potential, then the Youth Population is secured and the safety of the Nation is further fortified.

Therefore Nigerians especially the Youth cannot afford to vote a President who has no tangible knack for Sports.

For many years , the Sports Sector has lagged behind because of Past Presidents who don’t know the Power of Sports and also don’t understand how to use its instrument in a multi- diversified Country like ours.

This is one aspect Asiwaju is miles ahead of the other Presidential candidates by his track records.

Who becomes the Sports Minister under the next Government is very critical because of the level of work the current Sports Minister Sunday Dare has done .

From the Adopt the Athletes Initiative to the Adopt the Pitch initiative to the Sports Industry Policy, just to mention but a few .

These initiatives have been yielding practical results, like the success of Team Nigeria at the 2022 Birmingham Games, where Nigeria posted her best ever Performance in the history of the Games.

The Athletes prior to the Games were also well taken care under the Adopt the Athletes initiatives and the entire Country and the whole World also stood still for Tobi Amusan’s World Championship feat in Athletics.

Now many stadiums across the country are wearing a new look , significantly the Abuja National stadium and the forgotten Lagos National Stadium in Surulere, thanks to the Adopt the Pitch Initiative of the Ministry of Sports under Sunday Dare.

It is very significant to quickly note that Sunday Dare is one of the many protégés of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Infact Tinubu personally handed him over to President Muhammadu Buhari to serve in his cabinet.

At Present, Sports is no more classified as Leisure but Business to drive more Corporate bodies involvement in the Country’s Sports with plenty incentives to them.

Lack of a suitable Structural and Legal Framework have been the reason for incessant crises in Nigeria Football over the years but the Ten Year Football Master Plan has been adjudged as the Permanent solution to this Problem if implemented.

All these are the achievements of Sunday Dare as Sports Minister but the bigger achievement is even the long term benefits of all of these Policies when they are sustained by the next Government.

But we know how badly we lack good transition of Policies as a Country from one Government to another.

This is one of the reasons why Nigeria cannot afford to jeopardize this transition which Will be seemless and smooth If Tinubu wins the Presidential Election on February 25th .

The Renewed Hope Manifesto of Bola Tinubu also encapsulates this on its Page 55 titled Sports Development.

Tinubu emphasized the need to run football as Business and under his Presidency, Corporate Nigeria will be given plenty incentives when they invest in the Sports Sector.

And this is on the same page with the Sports Industry Policy President Buhari recently approved.

The APC Presidential Candidate also talked about his plans to step up the Welfare of Nigerian Athletes in his Manifesto with an Athletes Welfare Scheme .

This is also in tandem with the Adopt the Athletes Initiatives of this Present Administration.

No other Presidential candidate is more equipped than Tinubu with suitable hands to handle the challenges of every sector including the Sports Sector.

This is one fact Nigerians must know going into the Polls in February.

He is structurally equipped with the kind of squad he has around him and Sports will benefit hugely because of this.

Gone are the days where People with zero to nothing knowledge about the Sports Sector are brought to head it, an address Nigerians will not want to go back to by voting Bola Ahmed Tinubu as their President.

Asiwaju’s love for Sports and Football has no rival amongst the other Presidential candidates.

This is why I am not surprised Football Legends like Austin Jay Jay Okocha, Victor Ikpeba, Daniel Amokachi and Kanu Nwankwo are unapologetically supporting him.

As far back as year 2000, Asiwaju came to the aide of Kanu Nwankwo who was looking for funding to start his Heart Foundation, guess who came to his rescue, it was Asiwaju not even his Igbo Political brothers.

Asiwaju gave him Five Million Naira which was the money he used to start the Kanu Heart Foundation .

According to him , the Heart Foundation has operated over 500 open Heart surgeries across Nigeria.

That is the kind of profile Asiwaju is bringing to Nigeria Sports if voted as President.

And the next four years when Tinubu will be finishing his first tenure as President, Nigeria would have featured at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in U.S.A, Canada and Mexico.

By then I will not be surprised if Nigeria surpasses it’s previous World Cup records by going all the way to the Semi Final because Asiwaju will provide Everything the NFF needs to achieve this.

He is a goal getter and that will drive him to achieving this and Nigerians will know their Hopes have actually been renewed.

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Strategic Partnerships, Diaspora Investment and Improved Workforce Critical to Industrialization-DG RMRDC

Published

51 mins ago

November 12, 2026

The Gleamer

By: Stella Azi and Adaora Adibe

The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, has called for a strategic shift from the exportation of raw commodities to domestic processing, manufacturing and value addition, declaring that Nigeria possesses enormous untapped raw material resources capable of driving industrialisation, creating jobs and strengthening the country’s economic competitiveness.

Prof. Ike-Muonso made this submission in a lecture titled Unlocking Nigeria’s Raw Material Value Chain for Industrialization, Manufacturing and Competitiveness, where he presented an extensive assessment of Nigeria’s resource endowments, industrial challenges and emerging investment opportunities across agricultural commodities, solid minerals and waste-based raw materials.

The lecture highlighted a combined US$2.65 trillion global market opportunity across 30 major raw material value chains, comprising 12 agricultural value chains valued at US$932 billion, 11 mineral value chains worth US$1.352 trillion and seven circular-economy value chains estimated at US$366 billion.

According to the RMRDC Boss, Nigeria must move beyond the traditional approach of extracting and exporting raw materials to building competitive domestic industries that transform these resources into intermediate products, industrial inputs and finished goods for local consumption and international markets.

He observed that the country’s manufacturing sector has struggled to sustain its 2014 peak, with its contribution to real Gross Domestic Product declining from 9.64 per cent in 2014 to 8.05 per cent in 2025, representing a 16.5 per cent decline. He also drew attention to the increasing cost of raw material imports, which rose to US$20.5 billion in 2025, approximately six times the 2020 level.

He explained that the growing dependence on imported industrial inputs exposes Nigerian manufacturers to foreign exchange volatility, increases production costs and weakens the competitiveness of locally manufactured products.

Prof. ke-Muonso stressed that the solution lies in developing domestic raw material value chains through deliberate investment in processing facilities, research and development, technology, infrastructure and stronger linkages between producers, processors and manufacturers.

He identified agriculture, solid minerals and industrial waste as three major resource platforms for Nigeria’s industrial transformation, stating the country’s significant production capacity and the enormous opportunities available for downstream processing.

Ike-Muonso noted that Nigeria produces over 63 million metric tonnes of cassava annually, making it the world’s largest producer, while also maintaining strong positions in cocoa, cashew, sesame, palm oil and cotton. However, more than 80 per cent of agricultural output leaves farms without adequate processing, resulting in the loss of significant economic value and industrial opportunities.

In the solid minerals sector, he identified more than 44 commercially viable minerals across over 500 locations, including lithium, gold, barite, bitumen, iron ore and high-grade limestone, describing them as strategic resources capable of supporting steel production, energy storage, electrification and advanced manufacturing.

The DG further drew attention to Nigeria’s industrial and agro-waste resources, noting that the country generates over 32 million tonnes of solid waste annually. He explained that agricultural residues, cassava peels, scrap metals, plastics and electronic waste could serve as important feedstock for bio-fertilisers, industrial chemicals, recycled polymers, energy production and other manufacturing applications.

In the agricultural sector, the DG identified cassava and industrial starch, cotton and natural textiles, natural rubber and elastomers, oil palm and oleochemicals, maize derivatives and cocoa processing as priority areas requiring increased investment.

He explained that processing agricultural commodities into industrial starch, sweeteners, textiles, technical rubber, specialty fats and other intermediate products would enable Nigeria to capture more value from its agricultural resources while reducing dependence on imported industrial inputs.

For the minerals sector, he highlighted crude oil-to-olefins and petrochemicals, lithium and energy storage, iron ore and steel, rare earth elements, bauxite and aluminium, and copper and electrification as strategic investment opportunities.

He particularly emphasised the importance of moving beyond mineral extraction into beneficiation, refining, battery precursors, industrial chemicals, metal fabrication and advanced materials production.

On the circular economy, Prof. Ike-Muonso identified electronic waste recovery, scrap metal recycling, plastic waste processing, agro-waste valorisation and battery recycling as emerging industrial opportunities.

He explained that transforming waste into productive industrial feedstock would not only reduce environmental pollution but also create new manufacturing industries, generate employment and reduce the importation of valuable industrial materials.

He noted that to address the structural challenges confronting raw material-based industrialisation, the DG highlighted the strategic interventions of the RMRDC, particularly the proposed 30% Value Addition Bill and the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISSRAMP).

He described the 30% Value Addition Bill as an important policy instrument designed to encourage domestic processing of raw materials before export, strengthen local manufacturing capacity and guarantee access to essential raw materials for Nigerian industries, and NISSRAMP as a critical data infrastructure that would improve access to verified information on the availability, location and quality of raw materials.

According to him, the combination of appropriate policy instruments and reliable resource data would help de-risk investments, improve transparency and strengthen confidence in Nigeria’s raw material sector.

He emphasised the importance of collaboration among government, academia and industry in developing bankable projects, sharing investment risks and accelerating the establishment of processing and manufacturing facilities.

Professor Ike-Muonso called on Nigerians in the diaspora and other local and international investors to take advantage of the opportunities available in Nigeria’s raw material sector.

He identified industrial processing parks, mineral beneficiation and refining, agro-industrial platforms, circular-material processing, industrial input manufacturing and enabling infrastructure as viable investment platforms.

He noted that diaspora investors could contribute beyond financial capital by bringing technology, international business networks, governance standards, technical expertise and access to global markets.

He maintained that Nigeria’s industrial transformation requires coordinated investment across the entire value chain, from raw material sourcing and aggregation to processing, manufacturing, certification and export development.

Professor Ike-Muonso stressed that the country’s industrial future would depend not merely on the volume of raw materials extracted but on the capacity to transform them into competitive products that meet domestic and international market requirements.

He maintained that developing local value chains would stimulate industrial growth, create employment opportunities, diversify exports, conserve foreign exchange and deepen Nigeria’s technological capabilities.

Through its strategic interventions, the RMRDC is positioning itself as a critical bridge between resource availability, investment opportunities and industrial competitiveness, with the ultimate objective of transforming Nigeria from a predominantly raw material exporting economy into a strong manufacturing and value-adding nation.

Ike-Muonso has demonstrated this since assumption of office as the Director General/ CEO RMRDC in the area of capacity building, improved working conditions, promotion of merit, and maintaining a conducive environment that rewards excellence, innovation and dedication. This is evident in his institution of RMRDC training school, reward for winners of the RMRDC innovation challenge among others.

His commitment has brought recognition both nationally and internationally: Al-Jazirah double honour awards as Public Servant /Government Agency of the year 2024-2025 and the recent election as the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Representative on the Board of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organisations (WAITRO) is a attestation to his commitment.

Concluding the lecture, the DG charged staff, researchers, manufacturers and investors to see themselves as nation builders in the new era of raw materials-led industrialization.

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