The Honourable Minister of Youth & Sports Development, Barr. Solomon Dalung has reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to the democratization of the National Sporting Federations, which has changed the face of Sports in the country in winning several laurels and trophies for the Nation.
The Minister disclosed this during a reception ceremony in honour of the Nigeria Under -19 Cricket Team who qualified to represent Africa in the International Cricket Council ( ICC ) U-19 Cricket World Cup, stressing, that the selection and nomination of Board members into the 42 Sports Federations through the elective process has guaranteed the sterling performances and laurels recorded by Nigerian athletes and players in international competitions. The performances and qualification of the Nigeria U-19 Cricket Team is therefore one out of many exemplary results of this positive change in the Nigerian Sports, the Minister stated.
Continuing, Barr. Dalung commended the Board of the Nigerain Cricket Federation for placing Nigeria on the biggest stage of World Cricket, stressing that the achievement of this Board will go down in the history of this country after over a hundred years of playing Cricket in Nigeria. To qualify for the World Cup, the Minister in his speech at the ceremony, recalled that the Nigeria U-19 squad, “The Junior Yellow Greens” as they are fondly called, against all odds defeated the host country, Namibia and other nations which included Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Sierra-Leone to come top in the highly contested qualifier event, which took place in Windhoek, Namibia from March 15th to 24th March 2019.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Adesola Olusade extolled the spirited efforts of these heroes, the Nigeria U-19 Cricket Team for bringing honour to their country, stressing that they should not rest on their oars to bring more laurels.
In his comments, the President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Prof. Yahaya stated that the team by this qualification into the International Cricket Council World Cup are truly heroes, who brought honour and integrity to their fatherland in their outstanding performances in the qualifying event in Windhoek, Namibia.
Ramon Balogun.
Assistant Director.
For: Director Press.
