TheCable

Sequel to the resolution of the technical committee of the national council on sports on Monday, the 21st National Sports Festival will be hosted by Delta state in November 2022.

Sunday Dare, minister of youth and sports development, spoke on Monday in Asaba at the extraordinary national council on sports meeting and inauguration of the local organising committee (LOC) for the festival.

Dare said his ministry would continue to collaborate with the Delta state government with a view to ensuring successful hosting of the national sports festival.

“Our government has put progressive ideas in place deliberately to drive sports development and the entire ecosystem in the country. Under the present government, sports has attained a new and impressive height which have invariably attracted allocation of resources as an area of business,” he said.

“The sports ministry, in collaboration with the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, has established a department in the ministry that is solely responsible for national sports festival and para-sports, ultimately giving para-sports the desired and long awaited attention.”

The minister said Nigeria planned to adopt the Sierra Leone system to make all sports federations autonomous and incorporated.

Dare also urged the national sports federations on the need to have an annual registration from the national sports commission which would certify and introduce them to the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) as the recognised federations.

He commended Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta state Governor, for hosting the extra-ordinary council on sports meeting and granting all necessary logistics at the shortest notice.

Dare urged other governors to emulate Okowa’s singular effort at adopting the highest number of athletes ahead of the recent Tokyo Olympics.

Declaring the council meeting open, Okowa described sports as a tool for youth development and national unity as well as socio-economic development of Nigeria.

“Countries that have continually excelled on the global stage put in enormous resources to discover talents and therefore treat them as national assets. I urge stakeholders in the sports industry to develop a holistic approach to sports development and management,” the governor said.

Okowa challenged the sports ministry to develop a policy for development of the sports sector which he hoped could lift the teeming youth from poverty to prosperity as well as earn foreign exchange for the country.

The council received and adopted two memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the establishment of department for National Sports Festival and Para-Sports in the ministry and November 2022 as official date for the national sports festival.