Chief Sunday Akin Dare CON, FNIS

Sunday Akin Dare, CON, FNIS, (born 29 May 1966) is a Multimedia International journalist and author. He recently served as the Nigeria Minister of Youth & Sports Development in Nigeria from 2019-2023. He was formerly the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) 2016-2019. He was given both appointments by President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari.

Sunday Akin dare assumed office as the Minister of Sports and Youth Development in 2019.

EDUCATION:

Dare received his secondary school education at Baptist High School in Jos; a city in the Middle Belt of Nigeria from 1978 to 1983. Shortly afterwards he studied for an Advanced level education at Oyo State College of Arts and Science, OSCAS, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

He then gained admission to Ahmadu Bello University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) honours in international studies in 1991.

His quest for knowledge motivated him to delve further into obtaining a Master of Arts (MA) in Law and Diplomacy from the University of Jos, Plateau state Nigeria in 1996.

Dare was opportune to be selected as a Freedom Forum Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the School of Journalism New York University (NYU) in 1998.

His professional excellence positioned him for another highly esteemed international opportunity; Harvard Nieman Journalism Fellowship at Harvard University where he enrolled for Media and Public Policy studies (2000-2001).

In 2011 Dare once again distinguished himself among his contemporaries from across the world and won the Reuters Foundation Journalism Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford, the United Kingdom where he contributed to the body of knowledge in the field of media and researched “New Media and Citizen Journalism in Africa – A Case Study: Using New Media Tools and Citizen Journalism to Investigate Corruption in Nigeria.”

CAREER:

Sunday Dare has over two-decade of journalism experience spanning over 25 years before 2016 when he was appointed as Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) where he is charged with the responsibility of managing the NCC’s interface with public and private sector stakeholders. At the NCC, Sunday Dare supervised five key Departments viz: Licensing and Authorization, Consumer Affairs, Legal Department, Zonal Operations and Monitoring & Enforcement.

Before his appointment at NCC, he was the brain behind the birth of Social Media Clinic (SMC), a Media/Information Technology (New Media) program aimed at providing information as well as educating private citizens on IT development and sensitising the members of the public on the usage of new media as a tool for building responsive society.

He managed the aforementioned role together with serving as the Chief of Staff / Special Adviser on Media to former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In 2009, Dare was appointed Senior Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of Information and Communications, while serving in this capacity he managed decisions on all subject matter that revolved around media and communications, as well as public information dissemination and media policies that fell within the jurisdiction of the Ministry. Additional responsibilities in his portfolio included supervision of operations of the Nigerian Communications Commission and feedback to high-ranking officials and the Minister of Information and providing recommendation on prospect and pitfalls in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry.

Dare also played an instrumental role in the meetings that were held between the leadership of NCC and top executives of the Ministry of Information and Communications. Dare’s iconic moment in the Ministry was being a member of the Minister’s advisory team that initiated and executed the sale of the 2.3 GHz spectrum frequency in 2014.

Dare served as Chief, Hausa Service, African Division at Voice of America (VOA) in Washington, DC between 2001 and 2009, in this capacity he managed multifarious portfolios. Other than managing the daily production of radio and online broadcast programs, he ideated, designed and implemented the acquisition of modern Information Technology and Telecoms gadgets for production and distribution activities such as newsgathering, content storage, program distribution etc. to expand content capacity and reach, as well as increase existing target audience.

He also led a team of eleven International Journalists based in Washington DC; alongside twenty-four news correspondents based in West Africa for Voice of America.

In his early days as a Journalist, Dare multitasked as a correspondent with several foreign publications including The Nation magazine in New York; as well as working with the European backed Fourth Estate magazine as a production editor during the military interregnum in Nigeria.

Other journalistic roles Dare took on during the military era in Nigeria include being a pioneer member of the Nigerian weekly magazines The News and Tempo, serving as an Editor, Pioneer Online Editor/General.

Appointed Nigeria’s Minister of Youth and Sports in August 2019, Chief Sunday Dare wasted no time in settling down to get the job done. Here is story of his stewardship as Nigeria’s Minister of Youth and Sports:

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

1. Over 28,000 youth beneficiaries of the Nigeria Youth investment Fund. NYIF

2. Over 340,000 youth trained in various digital skills across the country.

3. Increase in the monthly salary of the NYSC from 19k to 33k.

4. DEEL- Introduced the DEEL Initiative that covered Digital skills acquisition, Employability, Entrepreneurship and Leadership and Mentoring. Over 350,000 youth secured training under DEEL.

5. Hosted the first event National Youth Conference in Abuja. November 2021

6. Hosted the first ever Commonwealth Youth and African Summit with 18 Commonwealth Countries in attendance.

7. Introduced the 60-day APP challenge among Nigerian youth for 3 years.

8. Established and securing the N75 billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund. NYIF.

9. Secured for the NYSC new service kits, increased camp and feeding allowances

10. Secured for Nigeria the Headquarters of the Commonwealth Youth Council. CYC with a population of 1.2 billion Commonwealth Youth.

11. Established the 3-month Work Employment Program, WEP, for Nigerian Youth.

12. Bilateral – signed bilateral agreements with 7 countries in youth development.

13. First Minister to bring Nigerian students (NANS) under the federal budget appropriation with a sub head from 2022.

14. Leadership training of 42k Youth through Centre for Leadership Training, CLTC.

15. APP CHALLENGE: Yearly APP challenge amongst the youth with instant cash prices for winners.

16. Skills Data Bank for the Youth

SPORTS DEVELOPMENT

1. National Sports Industry Policy, NSIP, otherwise known as Sports as Business. Developed a new national sports policy with practicable Prescriptions for Nigeria’s sports development.

2. Birthed new Reorientation around the sports ecosystem in the direction of developing sports business model and sports diversification from football to other sports such as basketball, wrestling, athletics, weightlifting, handball, table tennis etc.

3. Adopt Initiative: adopt an athlete, adopt a pitch, adopt a team, adopt a facility. PPP Model.

4. Renovation of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium after almost 10 years of lack of proper renovation through a robust public private partnership under the adopt a pitch initiative. MANS has been ceritfi3d by both CAF and FIFA.

5. Renovation of three sections of the National Stadium Surulere. Practically abandoned for about 19 years. The structure is now being restored to its original plan and the main bowl is almost back with new football pitch, new sprinklers, a new 9 lane tartan track, a new digital scoreboard.

6.Obafemi Awolowo Stadium Largely through government funding, this stadium, once the best in Africa built by Obafemi Awolowo is now witnessing massive renovations of its pitch, the stands and indoor sports areas and the swimming pool.

7. Adopt an athlete: Direct financial support channelled to the home and foreign based Nigeria athletes. Through this initiative over 48 Nigerian athletes got direct funding to the tune of over half a million dollars. Home based got 10k USD and foreign based 20usd.

8. Talent Hunt Program, THP.

9. Delivered a 10-year Football Masterplan

10. The rebuilding of the Nigeria premier league currently ongoing.

11. Completed the Headquarters Building of ANOCA (Association of National Olympic Committee of Africa) after almost 10 years of abandonment. The IOC President Thomas Bach was in Nigeria to Commission the building.

SPORTING LAURELS:

Under Sunday Dare as Minister of Sports Development, he led Nigeria to win 254 Medals from Various Continental and International Sports competitions and Games. Some of which include the following:

1. Basketball. 3-time Afro basket champions in Africa. Female basketball team D’Tigress won the trophy for keeps.

2. Football: won WAFU Junior cup

3.Tokyo Olympics- 2 Medals. Silver in wrestling for the first time and Bronze in long jump. This for the records is Nigeria’s best Olympic performance in 13 years.

4.World Athletics junior championships in Kenya. Best ever performance with Nigeria coming 3rd with 4 gold medals, 3 silver and 4 bronze.

5.World Champion: Produced the first ever World Champion in Tobi Amusan, The World Record holder in 100 meters hurdles.

6.Commonwealth games: at the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Nigeria came first among all participating African countries; Nigeria came 7th overall out of 62 countries. Nigeria posted its best ever Commonwealth record with 12 gold medals. A total of 35 medals in all.

AWARDS, HONOURS, AND RECOGNITIONS.

1. In 2020, was give the title of AGBAAKIN (Chief Warrior) of Ogbomosoland.

2. In 2021, the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare, was honoured by the Association of National Olympics Committees of Africa (ANOCA) with the Highest Order of Sports Administrator Award.

3. In 2022 he was awarded “Honorary Fellow of NAPHER.SD” (Nigeria Association for Physical, Health Education, Recreation, Sports, and Dance.).

4. In April 2022 he was awarded the traditional title of SARKIN WASANNI of Nigeria. Meaning the KING of GAMES by the Daura Emirate a council. He was turbaned in December 2022.

5. Received the Excellence in Public Service Award from the President of Nigeria Mohammad Buhari for his performance as the Minister of Youth and Sports.

6. Dare is a well decorated professional with numerous awards to his name. He has been honoured both locally and internationally, including being recognised as one of the fifty Leading Nigerians During the Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee anniversary celebration in North America.

7. He also emerged the winner of the Voice of America Meritorious Honour Award 2009 in recognition of his sterling leadership and professional contributions in Africa and diaspora. Additionally, Dare was listed as a member of International Committee to Protect Journalists Citation in 2000 in New York City in recognition of his spiritedness as a journalist.

8. Special Recognition Award by the Republic of Maldives for His contribution to Sports Development in African Region.

9. Bagged Best Performing Minister’s Award, May 4th, 2023.

10. Bagged Nigerian Olympic Committee, NOC outstanding Minister Award on 25th May.

11. Received the National Youth Council) NUCN) Leadership Award On 26th May.

12. Conferred Fellow National institute of Sports, FNIS on 26th, May 2023

13. Commander of the Order of the Niger, CON, National Honour Award, 28th May 2023

14. National Youth Council of Nigeria Leadership Role Model Award

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