In 2001, a certain Nigerian of
Yoruba descent was named the chief of the African Division at Voice of America
(VOA) Hausa Service. Upon the appointment, there were protests that he could
not be made the head of the Hausa service, seeing he was a Yoruba man. The
Voice of America did not bulge, for their pick was a great guerilla journalist,
who had stared the bullet in the face in the line of duty. This is Sunday Dare
the new minister of youth and sports.
Solomon Dalung, the ex-minister
of sports who hails from Plateau state, has been replaced by another this
Sunday Dare, who also happens to be a Jos man. While Dare may have his origin
in Oyo state, you can find a great portion of his roots in Jos, where he gave
many years of his life.
First, he had his secondary
school education at Baptist High School in Jos from 1978 to 1983. He would go on to bag his master degree in
Law and Diplomacy from the University of Jos — the same tertiary institution
where Dalung got his LLB.
Dare would later work in Jos from
1993 to 1995, as a journalist with the junta-defiant new medium, The News.
SISTER KILLED IN JOS
Writing about his experience as a
journalist in Jos, during the military era, Dare said: “While in Jos, I knew
little peace. This was between 1993 and 1995. I was, for the most part,
incognito. Constantly on the move, if I told anyone I was headed downtown in
Jos, I made straight for the uptown of the city”.
“If I told even some of my
colleagues I was headed out of town, I remained and operated underground. Like
my colleagues in The News, I relied on my instincts. I disappeared immediately
from any place as soon as I felt danger.
“I used different offices and
methods to send in my stories. Sometimes, through human courier or fax, or I
simply dictated it on the phone. If the story was an exclusive or too hot, my
editors asked me to travel down to Lagos for a debriefing. Then I sat down to
weave the cover story with the help of other journalists on the team.”
In the democratic era, Dare
served as head of VOA Hausa service in Jos from 2001 to 2009. In 2008, his
sister was killed in the Jos riots of that year. It was a painful experience
for the journalist, who can adequately be called a Jos man.
OUTSTANDING JOURNO WHO PUBLISHED
ABUJA’S FIRST EVENING PAPER
 |
| Some of The News journos: Kunle Ajibade, Sunday Dare, and Bayo Onanuga |
Many people in 2018/2019 know
Dare as executive commissioner (stakeholder management) of the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC). But before any of that, Dare is an outstanding
journalist in his core.
He was a reporter/columnist with
The Nation magazine in New York and a production editor/writer with the
European funded Fourth Estate magazine. Before he served as general editor of
The News and Tempo, two of Nigeria’s independent weekly news magazines based in
Lagos.
In his book, Guerilla Journalism,
Dare chronicles the experience of the “mobile newsroom”, and the true essence
of the title “editor-at-large”. He was ahead of the years, as he served as the
pioneer online editor at The News, long before online journalism became a
thing.
He would go on to publish Abuja’s
first evening newspaper. Evening newspapers would later go on to be a norm.
As head of VOA Hausa Service, Dare was responsible for
the work of eleven international radio broadcast journalists based in
Washington DC alongside 24 reporters/stringers — including sports reporters —
based in West Africa. He ensured broadcast to more than 21 million listeners in
West Africa.
ABU-HARVARD-OXFORD GRADUATE
Asides The News and Tempo, Dare
is also a graduate of many other schools. He was a Freedom Forum Fellow and
Visiting Scholar, School of Journalism from New York University.
He also attended the prestigious
Harvard University, via the Harvard Nieman Journalism Fellowship between 2000
and 2001, where he enrolled for Media and Public Policy studies.
In 2011 Dare won the Reuters
Foundation Journalism Research Fellowship to study at University of Oxford,
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.”
The Knight International
Journalism fellow holds a BSc in International Studies from Ahmadu Bello
University.
BOLA TINUBU’S RIGHT-HAND MAN
 |
| Dare with Bola Tinubu |
Bola Tinubu is many things to
many people, but there seems to be a consensus on his abilities to headhunt the
best hands in any field. One of such hands is Sunday Dare.
Dare was former media adviser and
chief of staff to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a national leader of the All Progressives
Congress (APC). In 2015, when Buhari named his ministers, there were reports in
the media that Tinubu was sidelined, as President Muhammadu Buhari did not
consider any of his nominees.
Kemi Adeosun (Ogun) was nominated
by Ibikunle Amosun; Claudius Daramola (Ondo) and Isaac Adewole (Osun) were
nominated by Bisi Akande; Tunde Fashola (Lagos) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) were
listed by Buhari himself. This strained the Buhari-Tinubu relationship.
By 2016, when the president was
seeking to repair this relationship, he appointed Dare as executive
commissioner of the NCC and Wale Edun as chairman of the Board of Trustees of
the Ogoni Trust Fund. Both men are Tinubu’s ally.
Prior to the guber election,
which saw Seyi Makinde emerge governor in Oyo state, there were a few
billboards in Ibadan pushing that Dare becomes the next governor of the state.
But this was not followed up by the Tinubu man.
Dare, also fondly called
Jebusite, is seen as one of the ministers, appointed as a result of the
relationship with Tinubu, but who’s qualification cannot be questioned.
ROUND PEG ROUND HOLE?
 |
| Dare as executive commissioner of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) |
In 2009, he became senior special assistant (media)/chief of staff to the minister of information and communications. During this period, Dare was assigned to oversee aspects of the operations of the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) and brief the minister on issues, challenges and opportunities in Nigeria’s emerging telecommunications market.
He was also a member of the
minister’s advisory team on the sale of the 2.3GHz spectrum frequency. It was
at this time that he learned the ropes on dealings at NCC. Hence, when he was
appointed in 2016 as a commissioner at NCC, he was moving back to familiar
terrain.
When he was nominated minister,
he was expected to be the minister of communications, seeing he was at NCC, and
was to replace his statesman, Adebayo Shittu, who served in that position. But
contrary to expectations, Dare, with more than twenty-five years of experience
as a journalist, was appointed to replace Solomon Dalung as the 35th minister
in charge of youth and sports — since Joseph Modupe Johnson in 1960.
PROMISES TOTAL RE-ORIENTATION OF
THE MINISTRY
 |
| Dare and Buhari |
Prior to his appointment, Dare,
the ninth person from the southwest to occupy the position of the nation’s
‘game master’, held no administrative position in sports.
However, no one could question
the choice of the 53-year-old in terms of his exemplary educational background
as well as his involvement and achievements in the media sector.
“I think we are going to see a
total reorientation,” Dare said about his new job.
“We will settle down, we will
have conversations when necessary, some
will be crucial and some will be confrontational but eventually we will come up
with plans that will work for our country, work for our youth and works for our
sports development.
“First and foremost the ministry
stands on two legs. Youth development and sports development. We are going to
have necessary crucial conversation and engagement with all stakeholders when
necessary to be able to empower not just the youths but also to develop sports
to bring it at par with the global 21st-century sport.
“So, we go to work from today and
it can be done because we have the resources, we have the personnel and we have
the expertise.”
Dare is a well-decorated
professional with many awards and recognition. He was identified as one of the
50 Leading Nigerians in North America; won Voice of America Meritorious Honor
Award; and a member of the International Committee to Protect Journalists
Citation in New York.
He is a lover of sports and an
ambassador of Crown Football Club of Ogbomosho in Oyo state.
MINISTERS OF SPORTS SINCE
INDEPENDENCE
Joseph Modupe Johnson (1960-1964)
Hon. J.C. Obande (1965-1971)
Henry Adefope (1971-1975)
Olufemi Olutoye (1975-1977)
Dan Isokrari (1977-1978)
Paulinus Amadike (1979 -1981)
Adebisi Ogedengbe (1982-1983)
Buba Ahmed (1983)
Bennett Birabi (1983)
Emeka Omeruah (1984-1985)
Ahmed Abdullahi (1985-1986)
Bayo Lawal (1986-1988)
Alabo Graham Douglas (1989-1990)
Anthony Ikazoboh (1990-1991)
Yohana Kure 1991-1992)
Alex Akinyele (1992 -1993)
Sylvanus Akinwunmi (1993 -1994)
Shola Rhodes (1994- 1995)
Jim Nwobodo (1995-1997)
Emeka Omeruah (1997 –1999)
Damishi Sango (1999-2001)
Ishaya Mark Aku (2001-2002)
Stephen Akiga (2002-2003)
Musa Mohammed (2003-2005)
Saidu Sambawa (2005-2006)
Bala Bawa Ka’oje (2006 -2007)
Abdurahaman Gimba (2007 -2008)
Sani Ndanusa (2008-2010)
Ibrahim Isa Bio (2010)
Taoheed Adedoja (2010 – 2011)
Yusuf Suleiman (2011)
Bolaji Abdulahi (2011-2014)
Tamuno Danagogo (2014 – 2015)
Solomon Dalung (2015 – 2019)
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