The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to Sports Development and will partner with the Nigerian Olympians Association to give sports a lift in line with the international best practices and standard.
The Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh made this known during a courtesy visit by the members of Nigerian Olympian Association in his office at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja recently.
Enoh noted that there is so much to be done and the ministry needs to work with the right people to successfully achieve the expectations of many especially now that the world biggest sports event, the Olympics, will soon commence in Paris and on that note, there is need for the Ministry to seriously train and retrain sports men and women in different fields in order to get the best out of them as they participate in the upcoming Olympics.
“There is so much to be done and more importantly working with the right people that will train sports men and women with the right skill to enable them qualify for the competition, these are the wrongs we do and we are willing to correct them, he said.”
The Minister disclosed that there will be a content appraisal for all contingents that will subsequently qualify for any game , be it Olympic, African Games, Common wealth games etc, to ensure that the content meets certain standards with the intended purpose of recognition, value and usefulness to the young athletes and the nation at large.
“There will be content appraisal for all those that qualifies to the Olympic and others for recognition and worthiness in addition to personal advert. Once you are out of game by retirement or sickness, you will not be forgotten”. he said.
The Minister commended the Olympian Association for their initiative to offer assistance to the new athletes with what it takes when one is competing in an international game like the Olympics. He added that as times goes on; he will sit with the Association President to locate Olympians whose games have qualified for the Olympics to support the new athletes and possibly travel with them for the tournaments.
He also acknowledged the fact that the Ministry has enjoyed enormous support from Mr. President under the Renewed Hope Agenda especially in areas of accountability and transparency threshold in governance which have improved significantly, ushering in, a new era of financial prudence in the management and dispensation of government recourses.
Addressing the Minister earlier, the President, Nigeria Olympians Association, Mr. Olumide Oyedeji stated that the association wishes to work in synergy with the Ministry as mentors to the new athletes and to add value to sporting development in Nigeria as Olympian’s gods.
He congratulated the Minister for his break through during the recently concluded African games in Ghana and commended his exemplary leadership in the sports Ministry. The association pledged its unflinching support to share in the Ministry’s vision and goals which has played off in the last series of games that the nation participated.
Present at the event is the secretary of the Association, Emmanuel Babayero, Olufemi Ajiloye a silver medalist at the 2008 Olympic Games and Christy Opara also a bronze and silver medalist at the 1996 Olympic games
Kehinde Ajayi (Mrs)
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