Sunday Dare

Sunday Dare, a veteran journalist, is presently minister of youth and sports in the new cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term government. He is moving up the ladder from the position of executive commissioner, stakeholder management, Nigerian Communications Commission [NCC].

He established star performance records in academic studies and working career that earned him a place in the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu-led political clan. A graduate in international studies and a master’s degree holder in law and diplomacy, Dare’s outstanding competence earned him international exposures in the school of journalism in world leading universities.

At work, he excelled in broadcasting at Voice of America in Washington where he managed multifarious portfolios. He brought innovation into the job through deployment of information technology and telecommunications equipment that was revolutionary in its impact from news-gathering, production, content capacity and reach of target audience.

From his profession as a journalist, Dare was part of the struggle against military dictatorship in Nigeria. He was a pioneer member of two Nigerian weekly magazines The News and Tempo that were a thorn on the flesh of the military governments as the pressure for democratic governance mounted.

He came under the political tutelage of Tinubu as chief of staff/media adviser after Tinubu’s tenure as governor of Lagos State – a position in which he was fully involved in the task of drawing up the vision and working the strategy for what is now on ground and still unfolding.

Recalling the tasks of those years, he said “it has been one of the best political tutelages that I have ever had, working with him and working for him”. Dare has two major lessons to share: one is Tinubu’s doggedness, commitment to principle, political vision and determination to accomplish to which he says there can be no substitute.

The second, he said, is that courage and ability to take risks, making sacrifices and political success are inseparable bed fellows. “I have seen a man who is fiercely diligent in the pursuit of the common good; a man willing to make necessary sacrifices in time and resources to build political bridges and someone committed to the advancement of society”.

Dare keys into the mission of the Asiwaju completely – to ensure that this country is better governed. He points to Tinubu’s strategy that first led to the emergence of a solid opposition and then the defeat of the incumbent administration as a vindication of his political worth and sagacity. By building a bridge between the south west and the north, he said, Tinubu has fulfilled a historical mission defined by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the late Sardauna.

Speaking of the political tenets of the Tinubu school of thought proven to be a yard stick of reaching one’s goal, Dare said it is to remain focused and undistracted by what people say even if others begin to be distracted. He has seen in his boss a model of a man driven by his belief to focus on his goal with his eyes at the tip of the spear.

Dare’s impeccable professional and public record built the linking bridge between his Oyo State origin and Lagos where he served as chief of staff /special adviser to Tinubu on media.

In 2009, Dare was appointed senior special assistant (media) to the minister of information and communications, late Prof. Dora Akuluyi. A typical Tinubu’s man, he excelled on the job, providing strategic guides at top levels of decision making within his jurisdiction. He has exhibited the qualities of his Lagos grooming by way of commitment, determination to accomplish, hard work and team spirit, leaving indelible marks, as he moves on to greater responsibilities.

Dare was nominated and confirmed a minister in President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term government and assigned to the ministry of youth and sports. With his critical thinking and strategic planning skills, a big transformation seems set to happen in that ministry in the present administration.

Dare is described as a right peg everywhere he works – a title he has lived up to. It can be expected that he is bringing his uncommon candor to nation building through sports that remains a unifying point for the nation. With his mastery of modern communication channels matched with the youth mobilizing field of sports, he is no doubt a valuable asset to the government and surely a proud Tinubu protégé on a mission at the national level.