The Nation Newspaper

Tag: partnerships

  • ‘Partnerships crucial to business growth’

    ‘Partnerships crucial to business growth’

    Director of Marketing and Innovation, Guinness Nigeria, Mark Mugisha has identified strengthening of partnerships with brand distributors in the brewing industry as one of the key drivers of growth.

    He said without the contributions and dedication of brand distributors, the company would not have achieved the penetration of its Mainstream Spirit Portfolio.

    Speaking in Lagos when the company at its headquarters celebrated  the outstanding dedication of brand  distributors, Mugisha said the event marked a significant milestone in the company’s journey, where distributors were not only acknowledged but also rewarded with seven brand new cars as a token of appreciation.

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    The grand celebration centered around the recognition and celebration of Guinness Nigeria’s brand distributors, who have played a pivotal role in the success of the Mainstream Spirit Portfolio.

  • Public-Private Partnerships needed to achieve development goals – FG

    Public-Private Partnerships needed to achieve development goals – FG

    The Federal Government has admitted that working together with the private sector will help it achieve its development goals, particularly because the government’s resources are decreasing.

    Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, made the admission during the 30th Annual Lift Above Poverty Organization (LAPO) Development Forum in Abuja.

    The Minister said it had become necessary to sustain the partnership with the private sector to advance the development agenda in the light of diminishing government revenue.

    Senator Bagudu, represented by Dr. Sampson Ebimaro, the Director of International Cooperation, explained that Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) play a vital role in addressing areas not covered by the government, including healthcare, the environment, the economy, public policy, and support for vulnerable citizens.

    He stressed that “the government’s policy objectives are crucial for both state and non-state actors, and NGOs should work in alignment with the national development plan, ensuring inclusivity and non-discrimination in addressing the diverse needs of society.”

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    The Minister acknowledged the significant challenges faced by the government including a revenue deficit, slow economic growth, rapid population growth, increasing unemployment, and high inflation.

    He urged non-governmental organizations ‘to play a role in helping the government address these issues and cover areas where the government’s resources and capacity fall short”.

    Dr. James-Wisdom Abhulimen, the Head of Programme and Corporate Communications at LAPO, emphasized the importance of non-state actors, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in complementing government efforts to promote national and economic development because the government cannot shoulder this responsibility alone.

  • Making partnerships work for progress

    Making partnerships work for progress

    • By Sam Ogbuku, PhD

    On Thursday, August 30, 2007, former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua directed that all the budgets for 2008 related to the Niger Delta region must be cut according to the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan, which was facilitated by the Niger Delta Development Commission. He was speaking at the launching of that momentous strategic development blueprint, which was developed with the active collaboration of all Niger Delta stakeholders.

    The collaboration and synergy which he recommended was to be implemented by the Partners for Sustainable Development (PSD) Forum, which had also been created as part of the Master Plan’s implementation guideline. In response to that presidential directive, and in discharging that responsibility, key stakeholders in the region met several times under the PSD Forum, and worked out the best strategy for actualising the provisions and prescriptions of the Master Plan, across board.

     For the first time in the history of the Niger Delta, Governors of the nine-member states, through their state officials, worked with other stakeholders to build a synergy with the NDDC, towards streamlining their 2008 Budgets for optimum delivery of development initiatives. As groundbreaking as it was, however, that very important collaboration did not last long, definitely not as long as the Master Plan itself, which expired in 2020.

     Today, in this iconic Niger Delta city of Uyo, celebrated for its capacity to warmly receive every visitor, no matter his place or persuasion, with open arms, we are gathered here, sixteen years after that presidential directive, to renew our commitment as a region and as a people, to work together for our common good, and shared prosperity. Today, under a new leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose famed work in rebuilding Lagos State as Governor emboldens all of us to believe, once again, that there is hope for Nigeria and the Niger Delta region, in particular, we are laying a fresh foundation for the kind of partnership needed to facilitate regional sustainable development.

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     Our vision as Management is founded on this kind of partnership. In the past few months since our appointment, we have continued to erect a veritable platform upon which this partnership must thrive. As I have earlier noted, it is public knowledge that inadequate funding ranks very high among the numerous challenges of the Commission. Consequently, we are promoting the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, in order to provide an alternative source for key development projects and programmes. This initiative aligns with the NDDC mandate, as well as the sustainable development goals 17, which focuses on partnerships.

     Only recently, we have hosted two NDDC-PPP summits, and engaged with potential foreign partners in Houston, United States of America, as a strategic stakeholder initiative to launch the NDDC PPP model. This model is designed to communicate a new phase for the Commission that will create a gateway of opportunities for foreign and local investors, captains of industry and multilateral agencies. Working together, we will build a new Niger Delta that fulfils the mandate of NDDC, of a region that is indeed socially stable, economically prosperous, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful.

     That is why this conference is very vital. For one, it helps to revive the platform of the Partners for Sustainable Development (PSD) Forum, which was created as part of the regional Master Plan implementation guideline, to bring all service providers and project implementers to the same table, to fashion a common pathway, based on a shared vision, for the development of the Niger Delta region. For another, it affords all of us the incentive and opportunity to pool our resources together, initiate projects and programmes within the obligatory goal of building a better region, and empowering our people.

     By so doing, we would, arising from this conference, galvanise our energies for a common purpose, eliminate duplications and institutional suspicions in the development process, reduce the incidence of working at cross purposes, as well as reduce wastage of scarce resources allocated for regional developmental initiatives by all stakeholders. In the end, we all would be in a better position to achieve the different aspects and levels of our collective mandate to facilitate the sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region of our shared aspirations and dreams”.

     To succeed, we must remain committed to doing things differently from the past. We must move from the era where we express a determination to making a difference in the Niger Delta, to actually making that difference. There is no better time than now. We are improving and strengthening our internal processes and institutional protocols. We are taking definitive and definite steps towards following due process in all our operations. We must become transparent in ways that build confidence among our partners and stakeholders. We must be more mindful in the allocation of funds to projects and programmes, and remove all areas of waste.

     And we stand a better chance to succeed by building that synergy that propels our work and our region into that future we have always envisioned. That work continues here, with all of us, by reviving this forum and the strength in our unity, with all its important benefits. It is our belief that this new initiative will help build needed consensus among partners and across the Niger Delta, to ensure that we can, together, truly implement visible projects and programmes with far-reaching impact in our communities, in our shared and unwavering commitment to rebuilding the Niger Delta.

     Ultimately, therefore, we would have found a common ground with President Tinubu’s far-reaching vision of hope, our common heritage as a people and our known tradition of hospitality, equity, industry and common purpose, woven together in a fabric that proclaims: “partnership for progress”.

    •Ogbuku is Managing Director Niger Delta Development Commission

  • MAN Pharmaceutical Group urges strong partnerships

    For Nigeria to achieve 70 per cent self-sufficiency in domestic pharmaceuticals, there is the need to adopt strong and innovative partnerships with leading lights in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sub-sector.

    The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN) canvassed this position at the fourth Nigerian Pharma Manufacturers Expo (NPME) held in Lagos.

    The Group, through its Chairman, Chief Okechukwu Akpa, said the approach remained one of the most sustainable means the government could drive its bid to secure standardised production and access to quality patent medicines.

    He also said deepening relations with critical stakeholders would effectively drive the requisite investment needed to fix problems facing the sector’s growth.

    Akpa said the challenges of long-term financing, procurement preferences, knowledge and technology transfer and tax incentives, among others, should be addressed to stabilise the operating environment for manufacturers, as well as check counterfeiting.

    Akpa, who noted the group’s contributions to national development via enhancement of access to medicines, reiterated the need to protect the sub-sector through policies that prioritises its growth and efficiency.

    He hailed the Executive Order by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo directing the mandatory patronage of locally-manufactured medicines by government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). He, however, said the directive should be backed with implementation.

    “This policy is expected to accelerate growth and development of the local pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. It will in turn assure national medicines’ security, boost self sufficiency in production, stimulate considerable employment in the sector, and increase inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),” Akpa said.

    He added that it would also facilitate the export of indigeneous medicines to neighbouring countries. “We therefore, look forward to more partnerships and support from critical stakeholders to ensure the industry continues to play its critical national role and reach its full potential”, Akpa said.

    Drug and Research Director, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Monica Eimunjeze, who represented the Director-General, Mrs. Yetunde Oni, pledged to support the sector with enhanced regulatory functions.

    She praised efforts at positioning the country as the most concentrated pharmaceutical base in West African, noting that it portends immense opportunities for the sector.

    “We have a responsibility to work to sustain good health through access to quality medicines and vaccines for all. The executive order would be considered to consolidate the effort to expand the local base of pharmaceutical products,” Mrs Oni said.

    MAN President Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs charged the government to address the security of manufacturing investment in the country.

    He said the country needed to ensure that investors were not discouraged by harsh operatimng environment.

    Jacobs, represented by the Chairman, Ikeja branch of MAN, Prince Oba Okojie, noted that the mandate to deliver a sustainable healthcare could be engineered by robust collaboration with government.

  • ‘Partnerships will uplift education’

    Chief Executive of Edumark Consult, an education branding concern, Mrs Yinka Ogunde, has called for successful partnerships in education to lift the sector to global standards.

    Speaking at the eighth edition of the Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) held at 10 Degrees, Oregun, Ogunde said parents, schools, government, corporate bodies and individuals should liaise to train Nigeria’s future leaders.

    Mrs Ogunde said: “It baffles me when people ask why I invest so much into this exhibition. People don’t expect you to have much value in education because there is hardly any financial gain there. But national development is woven around what we do in the education sector. You are raising a generation that will determine the future of the nation.”

    “A programme such as this provides educators with a unique learning opportunity. It provides an ideal platform to see and learn what is new in the world of education. It provides an opportunity for organisations developing innovative products and services to introduce such products to key stakeholders in the education community. Our vision is to make Nigeria the hub of activities in the education sector in Africa,”

    She urged government to review  curriculum, invest in infrastructure and technology in both public and private schools, train and motivate teachers, implement policies, ensure safety in schools, articulate the vision of the nation’s education ministry, among others.

    Chairman JK Pharmacy, Jimi Agbaje, charged Nigerians to invest in education to defeat mediocrity.

    He said: “We must believe that education is the most powerful weapon to change the world. You build more schools, and other professions will follow. You would need engineers to work on the school, artisans, teachers, among others and jobs would be created.”

    Agbaje however cautioned against lack of creativity in the curriculum.

    “Our education is lacking creativity, which is as important as literacy. You must continue to maintain a standard. Don’t leave broken infrastructure untended. We have to be particular about little things, because they differentiate the person with standard from the person without standard. The more we create mediocrity in the system, we cannot get far,” he said.

    Mrs Titilayo Solarin, who represented the Tutor-General Permanent Secretary, Education District 2, Mrs Margaret Solarin, said government was working to promote functional and qualitative education.

    Also in attendance were wife of former governor of Cross River State, Mrs Imoke Obioma; immediate past commissioner for education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye; Director of Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), Mrs Adun Akinyemiju; and Director of ST and T Regency School, Ikeja, Dr Maggi Ibru, among others.

     

  • Reshaping the Delta through partnerships

    Reshaping the Delta through partnerships

    Since she assumed office as Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari had not been ambiguous as to what mandate she received from President Muhammadu Buhari, concerning the Niger Delta region. The mandate is express, immediate and herculean. The immediacy itself, has defined the speed at which Semenitari, a manager, activist, mentor, author and award-winning journalist, had operated since December 21, 2015 when she took over from Barr. Bassey  Dan-Abia.  For Semenitari, using the Niger Delta Regional Master Plan, what she has dubbed ‘the Bible of the region’, the storyline, that is, the narrative, of the Niger Delta must change. Whether when she addressed staffers of the Commission, or Civil Society Organisations; or when she played host to the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Niger Delta Presidential Amnesty Programme, or met with Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, Semenitari’s creed had been, “If we get it right here in the Niger Delta, we are getting it right for Nigeria”. If then, partnership remains key to a holistic development of this rich yet poor region, why had previous leadership of the Commission made bunkum of it?  Whatever their choice was, for Semenitari, partnership must drive the super-structure of the Commission.

    The  NDDC  was  officially  inaugurated  on December 21,  2000  by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, with a  vision  “to  offer  a lasting  solution  to  the  socio-economic difficulties  of  the  Niger  Delta”. With the history of failures of previous development efforts targeted at the region, framers of the Master Plan prescribed a new approach. It was the Sustainable Community Development (SCD) strategy and was to be anchored on partnerships. At the heart of the ‘integrated’ or ‘holistic’ approach adopted for the Niger Delta Regional Master Plan is a determination to understand and take account of the relationships between different aspects of life and between different agencies and other stakeholders, to involve them in the planning process and to create a shared view amongst diverse stakeholders while planning for coordinated programmes of change.

    According to the document, the SCD strategy places greater emphasis on partnerships, not just with the communities themselves, but also with government and strategic local and international development organisations. This SCD strategy also recognizes the ‘symbiotic relationship’ between development and peace.

    Semenitari, an activist-writer with bias for the Niger Delta region, soon as she came on board, extended the tentacles in search of partners. During her meeting with Brigadier-General Paul Boroh (rtd) and his team at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, Semenitari reiterated that the NDDC was by law, expected to forge strategic partnerships for the purpose of developing the Niger Delta region.

    For Semenitari, the bourgeoning relationship/partnership with the Amnesty Office is an apt platform to turn people of the region from hewers of wood to people who would have respectable and sustainable means of livelihood.

    “We need to teach our people to fish because we are a region of proud people who want to earn honest living. We cannot continue to allow ourselves to be defined by the challenges of the past,” she had told the Amnesty Co-ordinator.

    The NDDC Chief Executive Officer assured the coordinator of the amnesty programme that the NDDC would key into the re-integration programme for the benefit of the youths, noting that development in the Niger Delta would be stalled if the former agitators were not fully re-integrated. She remarked: “The Chinese say that as long as your neighbour is hungry, your chicken is not safe. So, if Nigeria wants its chicken to be safe, it must address the problem of poverty that is bedeviling the country. We need to develop a template that would enable the country to engage the rural poor, so as to move the country from poverty to wealth.”

    During her meeting with the Washington Center which Director, Africa Programme, Ms. Jennifer Cooke, came in person, the Acting Managing Director remarked that the commission needed the support of all stakeholders to succeed in the task of developing the Niger Delta region. She stressed the need for local and international organisations to pull resources together to ensure steady development in the Niger Delta, noting that the world could not afford to ignore the region. “If you don’t get the Niger Delta right, every one suffers. There is a lot of wealth in the belly of the Niger Delta and it is way beyond oil and gas. We need the assistance of CSIS to take our story to the rest of the world. However, we are not looking for handouts. We don’t need that. What we need are partners who will work with us to bring growth to the region in ways that are sustainable.”

    In search of more partners, Semenitari last week knocked on the doors of two international development agencies – the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, and the British Department for International Development, DFID.

    USAID Head of Mission in Nigeria, Michael T. Harvey, was joined in the meeting by Dr. Blair A. King, Director, Peace and Democratic Governance Office, Aler Grubs, Deputy Mission Director, Adamu O. Igoche, Deputy Office Director, Peace and Democratic Governance Office, and Augusta Akparanta-Emenogu, Civil Society and Media Specialist, Peace & Democratic Governance Team. Semenitari had yet one request – join us in a partnership. Mr. Harvey made recommendations on how to develop the Niger Delta region using the NDDC module.

    NDDC is already reaping the fruits of the acting MD’s shuttle diplomacy. DFID, apart from buying into Mrs. Semenitari’s approach, has reached an understanding with the Commission for their first joint activity. Though both sides rescheduled their deliberations for a later date, Mrs Semenitari extracted serious commitment from the British agency for partnership. Like a diligent farmer, the fruits of that engagement with DFID will be harvested as early as February.

    As Mrs Semenitari continues her drive to reposition the Niger Delta region through the platform of NDDC, in accordance with President Buhari’s marching order to her, there is no doubt that underneath is a passion to change the narrative of the region. It is a huge responsibility far above partisan politics, primordial sentiments and ethnic chant.

    When on Wednesday, January 27 she appeared before the Senate Committee on Niger Delta chaired by Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, Semenitari expressed the need to re-focus NDDC from wastage to productivity. No doubt a burden located in an expectation of a people long starved of development.

    There is already a new song across the hamlets, creeks and mangroves of the Niger Delta which serenade draws its rhythm from a fresh keyboard. One of Semenitari’s first key leads towards changing both the infrastructure and reputation of the Commission, was the reshuffle of portfolios. Directors and Heads of Departments were shuffled in an action the Ag. Managing Director emphasised was for optimum productivity. 21 officers were affected in the massive but efficiency-driven shake-up that covered Legal Services, Procurement, Project Monitoring and Supervision, Administration, Environmental Protection and Control as well as Education, Health and Social Services.

    Other officers were also redeployed to Youths, Sports, Culture and Women Affairs, Information Technology, Special Duties, Community and Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries, Corporate Affairs, Project Management and SERVICOM Unit, while others were reassigned in seven State Offices, namely, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo, Imo, Rivers and Ondo.

    Twelve officers retained their positions. These are in Planning, Research, and Statistics, Human Resources, Finance and Supply, Utilities, Infrastructural Development and Waterways, Commercial and Industrial Development, Internal Audit, Security as well as Public-Private Partnerships.

    Semenitari holds the Niger Delta dear and has no doubt, committed herself to driving President Buhari’s agenda for the region. Her methods are simple yet potent enough to convert even her worst critics that she in for real, good business. Building on the partnership logarithm, Semenitari, no doubt, will resolve the jinx and the jig-saw that had held the region comatose. Like a surgeon with years of experience, Semenitari, having spent about twenty-seven years reporting and investigating issues of under-development and corruption in the region, is set to deploy the surgeon’s blade to the source of the cancerous growth. Yes! She is determined!

    • Anyalewechi is Special Assistant to the Managing Director on Media & Communication

  • CNN embarks on strategic partnerships

    CNN International Commercial is expanding the CNN brand and generating additional revenue streams in English language learning and international money transfers through two new partnerships.

    Working with Germany-based learning solutions provider, Papagei.com, CNN is launching a dynamic English language learning service – CNNLearn English.

    Available on desktop and mobile, the subscription-based digital service, will facilitate English language learning by overlaying CNN video content with Papagei.com’s unique translation and learning aids.

    Content is focused on finance and business, spanning a range of subject matters and a variety of dialects.

  • Etisalat urges public private partnerships in broadband devt

    Etisalat urges public private partnerships in broadband devt

    The Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Group, Ahmad Julfar,  has urged the adoption of public private partnership (PPP) approach to broadband development, arguing that access to broadband is a basic right for everyone who could be served smartly, where needed.

    He lamented that artificial policies of long pay-back on infrastructure investments and diminishing returns impact ability of carriers to invest and innovate

    Addressing global leading figures in telecoms at this year’s Mobile World Summit (MWS) by Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Mr. Julfar said public internet needs to evolve further, stressing that it requires investment in capacity, new solutions, technologies and innovative business models.

    He argued that the carriers will not be able to drive this alone, as they face the risk of a big disruption due to the shifts across the value chain, necessitating the PPP approach.

    He said: “Etisalat believes that access to broadband is a basic right for everyone and it can be served smartly, where needed. But providing universal access to broadband poses a challenge for telcos because network investments not only have long pay-back periods and capex  (capital expenditure) on infrastructure today yields diminishing returns.”

    Mr. Julfar said “new investment models based on semi-public funding from governments or infrastructure-sharing models defined by regulators, are urgently needed and should be encouraged”.

    Speaking on Connecting Billions Across the Developing World, Mr. Julfar said: “The benefits of increasing connectivity are clear to see in economic, social and environmental fields, but there is a clear digital gap. Some 60 per cent of the world’s population remains unconnected, the majority of which is in rural areas of the developing world.”

    By 2020, approximately 3.8 billion men and women, or half of the world’s population will be connected to the internet through mobile and a vast majority of the new users will be in developing countries.

    “Telecoms revolutionises everything we do; it is the industry that changes all other industries; governments know it.  That is why, over the past 10 years, more than 150 governments have developed or are developing national broadband networks.  The primary goal is to make the country benefit from the economic impact of broadband. And we share a common interest to keep investing in the future internet,” he said.

    He proposed a number of changes in the telecoms ecosystem comprising governments, regulators, internet companies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). He urged all to embrace new competitive models to allow telcos focus on market value creation through collaboration between private and public sectors to distribute more choice, affordability and welfare to citizens.

    “Some of the most innovative models today come from emerging countries. Etisalat Group takes a different approach in various developing countries that it operates in, and not one size fits all. Our ability to be flexible to meet individual market need drives our growth across the region. This flexible approach has enabled Etisalat Group to extend service provision for millions of people,” he said.

  • How Public-Private Partnerships is promoting Niger Delta’s prosperity

    How Public-Private Partnerships is promoting Niger Delta’s prosperity

    Ali Moshiri, President of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company, examines how the governments of the Niger Delta states and oil companies are promoting prosperity in the region. 

    Nigeria recently claimed the title of largest economy in Africa, with a gross domestic product of $510 billion – underscoring its tremendous economic potential and the opportunity to improve livelihoods by promoting peace and further economic growth.

    Private companies have a role to play in this story. The energy industry, in particular, should continue to be a major contributor to social and economic development.

    Societal expectations have never been higher, and companies need to advance economic opportunity for communities where they do business by creating jobs, hiring local workers, and developing their skills and capabilities through on-the-job training.

    The oil-rich Niger Delta is the source of 80 percent of Nigeria’s revenues. Having been part of this community for a long time, we are familiar with the challenges facing the region – from limited economic growth to uncertain conditions of security and peace.

    We’ve also seen the positive, sustainable impact we can have on economic development as a private-sector entity. We do this not only through philanthropy, but also through a strategic, partnership-based approach to help create prosperity – now and for generations to come.

    In Nigeria, we approach our social investments with the view that public-private partnerships are critical for successful economic development. But those partnerships are necessary, as well, for creating an enabling environment for business.

    One example of this is the Niger Delta Partnership Initiative (NDPI), established in 2010 as a five-year, $50-million endowment by Chevron. Over time, this investment grew to $100 million after being matched by partner funding.

    Since inception, this model – which focuses on removing systemic constraints that can lead to poverty and conflict – has involved 172 local and international partners and has directly affected

    more than 10,000 people.

    Organisations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations Development Programme and others have supported these projects with best practices, global credibility and local reach, magnifying the impact.

    Over the past four years, NDPI has trained more than 5,500 people, created more than 600 new jobs and stimulated new growth sectors in the local economy. Job creation, increased incomes for residents through improved productivity and efficiency are helping to break the cycle of poverty and conflict that has been a root cause of some of the region’s problems.

    Encouraged by NDPI’s initial success and looking to the future, Chevron is reinforcing its long-term support by pledging an additional $40 million over the next five years to expand and build-out successful programs and practices that have laid the groundwork for transformative change. This additional funding brings the company’s total investment in NDPI to $90 million, the largest social investment in the corporation’s history.

    Four years in, NDPI has identified key factors for success.

    First, work closely with the community to identify pressing local needs and understand where the company’s support can have the biggest impact

    Second, create effective programs that address these needs and build local capacity.

    Third, generate local ownership of the projects and long-term buy-in to enable local organisations to sustain the beneficial outcomes.

    The additional funding will allow NDPI to take all this learning forward and expand projects. This is a long process in which the path to success requires strong, committed participation from governments, businesses, nonprofit organisations and communities doing business in Nigeria.

    The shared vision that is built into the NDPI model is crucial to socioeconomic success in the Niger Delta. Together, NDPI and its partners have made great strides and will continue to implement projects that help move the region toward shared prosperity.

    Culled from allafrica.com

  • Kwara Deputy Gov seeks partnerships to enhance sports development

    Kwara Deputy Gov seeks partnerships to enhance sports development

    The Kwara Deputy Gov., Mr Peter Kishira, has called on corporate organisations and public-spirited individuals to partner with government to enhance sports development in the state.

    The deputy governor made the call on Wednesday in Ilorin at the opening of the maiden Kwara All Secondary Schools Athletics Championships, sponsored by Mr Tunde Abdulkareem, the Chairman, Kwara Athletics Association.

    Kishira, represented by Saka Onimago, Kwara Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, said that the present administration in the state placed a high premium on sports as a tool for development.

    “The Kwara government is undergoing reform in all facets and sports cannot be an exception. There is no gainsaying that this administration places a high premium on sports as a tool for development, prosperity and nation building. This informs this administration desire to return sports back to the grassroots and its old glory.

    “It will, however, be noted that Kwara has produced prominent sportsmen and women especially athletes, who made their marks in the past nationally and internationally,” he said.

    Kishira who commended the sponsor, said that the state government would leave no stone unturned in its programme of identifying sporting talents from the grassroots. He urged other philanthropists and well meaning organisations to partner with the state not only in sporting activities, but also in other areas of socio-economic development.

    The deputy governor also charged the participating students to be disciplined and compete with the spirit of sportsmanship.

    Earlier, Hajia Rahmat Adeshina-Abaya, the state Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, said the state’s focus on sports development was based on the principle of the “Community Sports Development Strategy’’.

    Adeshina-Abaya said this was to ensure adequate provision of standard sports facilities from the grassroots. She added that government would also invest in the discovery of talented youth, who would later be nurtured to stardom. The sponsor, Abdulkareem, said the sponsorship was borne out of the desire to make Kwara wealthy through athletics.

    “Kwara is not in the Niger Delta, but we want to make history by making Kwara oil wealth through athletics. In the years to come, we will produce boys and girls that will make Nigeria proud. They will become world beaters, and would to represent Kwara, Nigeria and Africa,” he said.

    Abdulkareem also announced cash prizes of N600, 000 to various medal winners at the championships.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that over 37 schools are competing at the 4-day meet.