TheCable

Nigeria has won the International Cricket Council (ICC) best global impact award for deploying sport to promote youth and social development.

William Glenwright, ICC’s global development manager, and Patricia Karambami, head of Africa development, announced this during a visit to Sunday Dare, the sports minister, in Abuja on Tuesday.

Glenwright and Karambami were led on the visit by Uyi Akpata, president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF).

Speaking on the occasion, Dare commended the ICC and the leadership of the NCF for the achievement.

“I commend the NCF leadership for being deliberate, strategic and tactical with their programmes,” he said.

“These outlined programmes also speak to the core mandate of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development because as we develop sports, we also ensure there is youth development.”

Also speaking, Glenwright lauded Nigeria’s sports authority for inspiring the cricket revolution in the country.

“Nigeria has now opened itself up for more support from the ICC for the expansion of cricket in Nigeria. The progress made by the sport needs to be studied and the template adopted for some other countries because how you have moved to being a force that is now qualifying for the World Cup is remarkable,” Glenwright said.

On his part, the NCF president said plans are underway to further promote cricket among children in Nigeria.

“The ICC gave us the rights to host the U19 World Cup Qualifiers because of the giant strides we have taken in cricket in recent times and the support we have received from the ministry while the encouragement from the minister that we should engage private sector support has also helped us a great deal,” Akpata said.