TheCable

Solomon Dalung, minister of youth and sports, on Wednesday called on the national assembly to allocate more funds to sports in Nigeria.

Dalung made the call in Abuja while receiving the victorious Nigeria Scrabble Federation National Team from the World English Scrabble Players Association Championship (WESPAC) in Nairobi, Kenya.

The team was led by its president, Suleiman Gora.

According to Dalung, in the last two years, the ministry of youth and sports has done better than any of its counterparts because we have brought glory to the country.

“Since this is the situation, we need more funds to develop sports. A situation where federations that have made the country proud have yearly budgetary allocation of between N30 or N40 billion, which cannot even fund one trip is unacceptable.

“We have over stretched the commitment of our people because members of the federation had at all time been contributing their monies in order to sponsor trips.

“Let us demonstrate commitment as a government by providing better support so that we can take governance in the federations to the next level.”

Dalung appealed to the private sector to develop an interest in the sponsorship of different sports in Nigeria and invest in it.

He said: “The multinational companies should develop interest in individual athletes, pick and train athletes, this will be better for sports in the country.”

Dalung pledged to constantly support the federation in all of its activities.