Nigeria Sports Federations has been charged to be more committed towards the effective planning of the forthcoming 2019 All African Games coming up in Morocco in order to surpass their previous records in the game.
Barrister Dalung, the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development said this during the interactive meeting with presidents, Secretaries and Technical Directors of Sports Federations at the National Stadium Abuja recently.
Speaking at the occasion the Minister encouraged the Federations on their projections in the forth coming Games later in the year, in his words “for it to be realistic the Federations should among other things consolidate on their past records, nurture the new talents to replace the old ones, participate in international competitions and also train and re-train athletes to keep them in good form.”
Earlier the Permanent Secretary gave an overview of the Games and described the meeting as a necessity as it was a good forum to deliberate on the performance of the country in the past and on the way forward to a successful outing in Morocco later this year. He also used the opportunity to introduce Alhaji Yakmut Alhassan a former Director in the Ministry as Chef-de-Mission for the Game.
Past performances of each of the Sport the country took part in were reviewed at the meeting and the Federation Presidents spoke extensively on the challenges, performances and activities of the federations since the last event in 2015. They also gave their projections for the forth coming Game and how they plan to achieve their target forecast of medals to be won.
Meanwhile the Chef-de-Mission Alhaji Yakmut also in his speech observed some pitfalls in the projections made and cautioned the federations on making projections that may not be achievable. He intimated the Ministry on some areas they need to know as regards the venues for events, and the flights schedule He also advised that the list for the number of athletes should be sent to the host country to enable them start early processing of visa.
Speaking further Yakmut advised that those in charge of Anti-Doping should find out the number of prohibited drugs in 2019 as it is not the same with that of 2018 and also suggested that athletes should be educated along that line.
Corroborating on that the Director Sports Medicine Dr. Paul Onyeudo revealed that a New e- Yellow card which will be treated like a passport will be introduced from the 1st of April 2019. Accordingly, the card must be obtained within 10 days before embarking on any international travel.
Speaking also at the occasion, the president of Nigeria Olympic Committee NOC Engr. Habu Gumel said that the Committee is working hand in hand with the Ministry. He encouraged the Federations to pay their affiliation fees as that can affect their entry in the Game.
Twenty Federations are to participate in the Games which come up from 23rd August to 6th September 2019. The Sports are Athletics, Badminton, Basketball Boxing, Canoe, Cycling, Gymnastics, Golf, Handball, Judo, Karate, Rowing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Taekwondo, Weight Lifting and Wrestling. The Paralympics sports were removed as they are no longer going to compete along with the able bodies
Mercy Omoyajowo
For: Director Press.
