The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for demonstrating what he described as the three critical attributes of leadership needed to transform Nigeria: vision, knowledge and courage.
Alake spoke during the Solid Minerals Excellence Awards organised to recognise outstanding contributions to the growth and sustainability of Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.
According to the minister, Tinubu’s administration is carrying out economic reforms previous leaders lacked the courage to implement.
“You can only reset a country when you are lucky to have a leader that combines the three most critical attributes of leadership , vision, knowledge and courage,” Alake said.
He explained that vision enables leaders to design policies that outlive generations, while knowledge helps in translating those policies into reality, adding that courage is required to push reforms through despite resistance.
“A lot of the economic reforms going on today in Nigeria are not policies nobody knew were necessary. Previous leaders identified them but lacked the courage to implement them because of political considerations,” he stated.
The minister said Tinubu was willing to take difficult decisions that would create enduring benefits for future generations.
Alake also reflected on Nigeria’s democratic struggles following the June 12, 1993 election, describing Tinubu as one of the key financiers and leaders of the pro-democracy movement both within and outside Nigeria.
According to him, many exiled Nigerian activists benefited from Tinubu’s support during the military era.
He said the current administration’s reforms are aimed at repositioning Nigeria economically and politically, stressing that the country is richly blessed with human and natural resources but has suffered from years of poor leadership and mismanagement.
Speaking on the solid minerals sector, Alake said Tinubu deliberately assigned him to revive an industry that had long been neglected despite its huge economic potential.
He disclosed that the ministry introduced reforms, including massive digitisation of the mining licensing process, to attract genuine investors and improve transparency in the sector.
“We crafted a seven-point agenda to plug leakages and block loopholes in the sector,” he said.
Alake added that the reforms had already attracted thousands of new entrants into the mining industry, generating more revenue for the country.
