The Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, will deliver the keynote address at TheGazelleNews' annual public lecture. The event is set for Wednesday, 15 July 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Lagos. The theme of the lecture is "Driving Grassroots Governance with Public-Private Partnership: The Pains, The Challenges, The Prospects." TheGazelleNews, a Lagos-based online newspaper, established the lecture series to promote intellectual discourse on critical national issues affecting Nigeria and its people.
The management of TheGazelleNews described Dare as a seasoned administrator, journalist and communications strategist with extensive experience in governance and public service. He is expected to lead discussions on the role of public-private partnerships in advancing grassroots governance and national development. Previous editions of the lecture have drawn policymakers, academics, media practitioners, industry leaders and political stakeholders.
Dare has over three decades of experience in journalism, public policy and strategic communications. He previously served as Minister of Youth and Sports Development from 2019 to 2023, where he introduced the Nigeria Sports Industry Policy and launched the 10-year Football Master Plan. Under his tenure, Nigeria won 35 medals at major international competitions, including the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. He also initiated the Adopt-an-Athlete programme and facilitated the creation of the N75 billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund.
Before that, Dare was Executive Commissioner for Stakeholder Management at the Nigerian Communications Commission from 2016 to 2019. He earlier served as Chief of Staff and Special Adviser on Media to Tinubu. In the media, he was General Editor of The News magazine and played a key role in the media resistance against the Babangida military junta. He also led radio programming that reached about 28 million listeners daily across West Africa.
Sunday Dare is set to speak on grassroots governance despite spending most of his career in federal appointments and media roles far removed from local administration. He has shaped national messaging for Tinubu and led sports policy from Abuja, not community-level development projects. His lecture may explain how top-down communication strategies translate into tangible local outcomes. So far, his record focuses on national initiatives, not grassroots execution.
💡 NaijaBuzz Take is AI-assisted editorial opinion, not established fact. Full disclaimer →
