Sunday Akin Dare, was appointed as the Special Adviser on Public Communication and Orientation by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, on October 23, 2024, had before his latest appointment had served as the Nigerian Minister of Youth & Sports from 2019 to 2023.
Previously, Dare held the position of Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) between 2016 and 2019, where he managed the NCC’s interactions with public and private sector stakeholders.
He was the Chief of Staff/Special Adviser on media to President Tinubu when he was the leader of the APC.
In 2009, Dare was appointed Senior Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of Information and Communications. In this role, he managed media-related decisions, public information dissemination, and media policies under the Ministry’s jurisdiction.
Between 2001 and 2009, Dare served as Chief of the Hausa Service, African Division at Voice of America (VOA) in Washington, DC, where he managed various portfolios, including the daily production of radio and online broadcast programs.
He also led a team of international journalists based in Washington, DC, and correspondents in West Africa for Voice of America.
Dare was a correspondent for The Nation magazine in New York and as a production editor for the European-backed Fourth Estate magazine during Nigeria’s military interregnum. He was also part of the founding team of Nigerian weekly magazines, The News and Tempo.
A cursory appraisal of his academic profiles showed that Dare attended the London School of Economics, LSE Strategic Communications; Oxford University, UK Academic as a Research Fellow, and Harvard University Cambridge, Boston Massachusetts, USA Journalism and New Media Studies Nieman Journalism Fellowship.
Before then, he studied at the New York University Freedom Forum Fellow Visiting Scholar, School of Journalism; University of Jos, where he earned his Masters’ degree in International Law and Diplomacy; the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna, Nigeria for his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) Degree in International Studies.
For his primary and secondary education, the SA to the President attended Baptist High School, Jos, Nigeria where he earned his West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificate and proceeded to Oyo States College of Arts and Science, (OSCARS) Ile-Ife for his advanced level studies in Government, Economics and Geography.
He is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and the (BEEC), amongst other professional bodies.
Among Dare’s published books and research works are ‘Making a Killing-The Business of War’ which in 2003 Won the Sigma Delta Chi Online Research Award of the Society For Professional Journalists, SPJ); Guerrilla Journalism: Dispatches from the Underground, published in March 2007; We Are All Journalists- Africa in the Age Of Social Media; Oxford University approved academic research (2011); and Datelines – A Journalist’s Narrative, published in May, 2016
In recognition of his intellectual resourcefulness, the SA to the President has won several international awards, including in 2010, when he was selected as one of the 50 Leading Nigerians in North America -in Commemoration of Nigeria’s 50th Anniversary; 2000 as a member of Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, New York-Special Citation for Courage; and in 2009 when he bagged the Voice of America Meritorious Honor Award in recognition of skilful leadership, outstanding performance, and contribution in accomplishing the VOA mission by making the Hausa program one of the most impactful broadcasts in the target area.
Also, in 2004, Dare was awarded VOA Silver Medal in “recognition of extraordinary contributions towards the accomplishment of the mission and goal of the agency”; a year earlier, he was awarded VOA Quality Step Increase in “recognition of sustained high quality performance of official duties.”
Other are in 1996, he won the “Best Correspondent Award” for coverage of Political developments under Nigeria’s brutal military dictatorships; and was also a member of the International Committee to Protect Journalists Citation in 2000 in New York City.
