The Honourable Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan-Enoh in his quest to boost sports development and funding has signed three innovative Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in Lagos recently. This is in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President Bola to improve sporting activities in the country for maximum benefit to sporting men and women and contributes to the nations GDP.
The Minister signed these MOUs with GTI Asset Management and Trust Limited to relaunch the Challenge Cup as the President Federation Cup in collaboration with the NFF to reignite interest amongst fans and elevate it to global standards. He signed a landmark agreement with top lottery company Yanga Games to raise the revenue profile of the Ministry of Sports Development and ensure a new deal for the welfare of athletes and lastly the Federal Ministry of Sports Development joined forces with EFFA Management for the enhancement of the various aspects of the Ministry’s Strategic Six-Point Policy Framework.
Enoh stated firstly that the renamed competition will involve grassroots teams, create employment for the teeming population of Nigeria, engage over 100,000,000 football enthusiasts, and showcase our country’s greatness globally. The President Federation Cup will become President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s legacy championing the cause of Nigerian football.
“Our groundbreaking agreements with key private sector players like GTI are indications of our resolve to revolutionize sports in Nigeria, leveraging innovation, technology, and human expertise.”
The Minister noted that the Ministry is partnering with YangaGames to bring maximum benefits to the athletes and all critical stakeholders..
“We shall give institutional encouragement and support to the Management of Yanga Games to succeed in this onerous task of rebuilding our sports sub sector.” He said.
Senator Enoh also pointed that the Federal Ministry of Sports Development joined forces with EFFA Management to specifically enhance various aspects of the Sports Ministry’s Strategic Six-Point Policy Framework developed named W.A.I.F.A.R. This agenda he said includes the welfare of our athletes, activation of sports as an industry, infrastructure development, funding for sports development, activation of grassroots sports, and the reorganization of sports federations to ensure effective delivery.
The Minister revealed that he strongly believes President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda offers the best opportunity to promote systemic development in Nigerian sports and the collaboration aims to make sports more attractive to private investors so that it can receive meaningful investments from the private sector.
Enoh said that the sports sector is currently experiencing a surge in efforts to improve its performance and the Ministry is fully prepared to establish partnerships that will facilitate this much-needed transformation.
The Minister thanked the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Sports Development, Mrs Tinuke Watti for her cooperation, the President of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, and all members of the MoU team for their invaluable contributions and keying into the vision of the Ministry and stated that the Ministry will continually pursue causes that will lead to strategic positioning for greater development.
Chairman/CEO of Yanga Games Mr Derrick David Kentebe on behalf of others said they are so super excited by this opportunity to work with the Ministry of Sports Development to change the narrative about Sports and sporting activities in the country.
With these three groundbreaking agreements, Nigerian sports is at its point of transitional development that will further propel athletes and other federations towards greater success meeting with the global best practices.
Kehinde Ajayi (Mrs)
Director Press and Public Relations Unit
FMSD
