New Telegraph

Olympics: Minister calls for athletes’ development programme, fund

Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has declared that Nigeria urgently needs a private sector driven Athletes Development Program and a Sports Fund independent of government.

 

Dare, who spoke on the sidelines of the Tokyo Olympics in Japan, canvassed for support for consistent training and development of athletes.

 

According to him, Nigeria’s sports “need a National Athletes Development Program as well as a Sports Development Fund urgently, to be run independent of Government and driven by the private sector.

 

“I will be more aggressive with engaging the private sector. We need our sports infrastructure activated and equipped. We need a cluster of multi-purpose sports centers or community sports centers to attract our young ones like Rowe Park in Lagos.

 

“We will tinker with a new National Sports Industry Policy by expanding the areas of athletes’ grants and training, government funding and commitment to sporting infrastructure development.

 

There a few fundamentals we have walked away from when it comes to sports administration. Wewillseekareturnby Gods grace,” the Minister declared.

 

On the strategy of taking only athletes with prospects to the Olympics, the Minister asserted that “Nigeria should keep the plan that brought us here. Not just medal winners but as many that meet the qualification standards in the chosen sports. Experience matters at the Olympics.

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