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With meagre budget of N2.7b a year for capital projects, Sports minister Sunday Dare, listed among Buhari’s best

Published

4 years ago

August 25, 2020

By Adewale Ajayi

Nigeria minister of youth and sports development Sunday Dare has emerged as the third best minister after just one year in office.

Appointed sports minister in August 2019, Dare has defied the odds to excel where his predecessors failed by shunning out brilliant initiatives and maintaining a steady profile during the last twelve months as Nigeria minister of Youth and Sports development.

The Oyo state born politician arrived the scene with little knowledge of sports but has managed to keep his head above water with some outstanding performances that have left stakeholders shocked at his brilliant foresight and immense achievements in just a short time in office.

In an interim scorecard released by the *transparency watch*, Dare came third behind Nigeria minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development Saddiya Farouq and minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi.

Both finished first and second ahead of Dare whose yearly budget as sports minister is put at just 2.7 billion naira.

Among these three, the ministry of transportation gets *560 billion naira as yearly budgetary allocation* while the ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development is on *420 billion naira budgetary allocation yearly*.

Despite the low budget, Sunday Dare has remained undeterred as he has continued to weather the storm through support from private and corporate sectors.

For the first time in a long while, the ministry is happy to see a minister that is paying equal attention to youth and sports development.

Sunday Dare has come up with various youth policies that has seriously impacted on the lives of the Nigerian youths. No wonder, president Mohammadu Buhari wasted no time in approving the 75 billion naira worth Nigeria youth investment fund, an initiative aimed at empowering Nigerian youths to put their brains and energy at work instead of waiting for white collar jobs.

That singular feet, has catapulted Dare to the very top of the list of achievers under the present APC government of president Mohammadu Buhari.

Humble and always easy going, Sunday Dare is not cut out for controversies. He has cleverly managed the many crisis in football, basketball and athletics federation, without soiling his hands.

He has maintained a calm head in the middle of the storm as his actions most times speak louder than his voice.

A man with the midas touch, Dare has gone out of his way to seek private sector support in the refurbishment of all the abandoned National stadia in Nigeria. The National stadium in Surulere Lagos and the MKO Abiola international stadium in Abuja are top priorities as he works towards making good his promise of reviving Nigeria sporting facilities.

The labour of our heroes past shall not be in vain is a popular line in the Nigeria National Anthem, but for Sunday Dare, he is actively looking out for Nigeria heroes past and present. He started his humaniterian and compassionate campaign by first impacting on the lives of the mothers of late Nigerian footballers like Samuel Okwaraji and Rashidi Yekini among other beneficiaries.

Nigerian sports men and women have not stopped singing his praises since the introduction of the Adopt an Athlete initiative, which has seen several wealthy individuals, private and corporate sponsors invest their monies in the careers of athletes with huge potentials to win medals for Nigeria at international events.

Nigeria youth corpers are also singing the praise of Sunday Dare. His emergence as sports minister came with an agitation that led to an increase from 18,000 to 33,000 naira monthly allowance for youth Corp members nationwide.

Sunday Dare will go down in history as the only Nigeria minister of youth and sports that has matched his many promises with actions blessed with results. For every promises made, there is always going to be an action that will ultimately lead to a result.

Now the stakeholders are saying, if in only 12 months he has left us salivating with excitement, what will happen after four years as the Nigeria sports ministry is now looking too good than ever imagined.

No wonder one stakeholder, a social media activist and a die hard supporter of Sunday Dare, Abbass Ibrahim, once said and I quote..

“Congratulations to our amiable Hon. Minister Sunday Akin Dare, your entry to the sports ministry is a reflection of the shinning light that subdued many years of darkness. May Almighty God keep and protect you to do many more good things for the ministry”. #SD👍

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Nigeria Will Take Good Shape In No Distant Time- Olawande

Published

2 days ago

September 16, 2024

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande has urged the citizens of the country to be patient with the Administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in transforming the lives of its citizens through various policies and programs of the federal government.

The Minister made this submission while delivering his speech at the Joint Union Negotiating Council’s week of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development branch. This is the first edition since both Ministries of Youth and Sports had been damaged. The JUNC week which was held at Atiku Hall, Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation in Abuja had its theme: “The working people in a volatile, uncertain, and complex economy”

In the words of the Honourable Minister: “I urge you to be patient with this administration. In no distant time, the country will take good shape and the lives of its citizens will be transformed”.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not a pauper, he is an acknowledged epitome of wealth, and so it cannot be said of him that he desires to loot the treasury of Nigeria. He has seen money and as a result of this, he is not interested in looting the nation’s treasury”, Olawande explained.

He emphasized that “leadership is all about being committed to serve. If you are a Minister now, tomorrow you will be addressed as a former Minister, likewise a Director because there is no permanent position but the impact that you made while in that office will speak after you”, the Minister reiterated.

Olawande expressed his gratitude to the workers of the Ministry for being supportive of the government policies and programs. He promised that the welfare of the staff would not be compromised, adding that workers deserve remuneration for being hardworking.

Earlier in his address, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Olubunmi Olusanya admonished the staff of the Ministry to put in their best as “Performance Management System” which replaces APER is the criteria to be used for promotion effective next year. This, according to him is because the Performance Management System (PMS) records the best efforts and input of each staff which will in turn be used to grade such staff.

Olusanya who disclosed that the welfare of the staff is his priority as workers deserve the best for the services rendered. He opined that “the hungry man is angry and as a worker, if you are not treated fairly and properly, it is impossible to get the best out of you. As a result, all staff will be treated properly as motivation to propel the best in you”, he concluded.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Esther Didi Walson-Jack, OON, MNI, in her address, informed that the activity to reinvigorate the Civil Service in a bid to ensure that Civil Servants carry out their duties with much diligence to have efficient and incorruptible civil service is currently on course. She advised workers to wake up and be committed to the service of the nation.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Jerry Akume, the General Secretary of the Union expressed his delight in celebrating this year’s edition of the Union week, while highlighting the achievements of the union so far. These include:

Upward review of staff welfare, prompt payment of repatriation allowances, payment of first 28 days allowance, assistance to the sick, general training of staff, and sending forth/retirement package for retired staff.

He also appealed to the Management of the Ministry, saying that irrespective of the aforementioned achievements, a lot still needs to be done in such areas as procurement of staff buses, upward review of welfare payment for festive periods, consistent general staff training, and procurement of office and work materials.

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